A you all may or may not know, I've been trying to convince people that HIIT is a much better way to burn fat in less time than steady state aerobics or cardio work.

Well if you have never heard of Tabatas,then you are in for a very intense treat. Fat loss and muscle building will be the end result

This is a very brief routine..4 minutes tops . You can use sprints ,kettlebell lifts, jump roping..but as you can see from the great Dan John, to get the best results you should use weights and he recommends 2 movements which will tax the whole body.

As you read along you will note that this routine will turn men into children.

If you have any type of cardiovascular disease issues, please see a doctor first. This is routine not to be taken lightly and motivation and focus must be high.

Dan John and Tabata

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=490160

I have done that before. usually with kettlebells. I would never call tabata intervals a treat! Losing fat is a treat, so i guess you could call that type of exercise a treat... DH and I were doing 20 minute sessions of these intervals, at one time. Now, that was definitely a "treat"...For a lazy person like me, it's definitely a treat to get a super great workout in so little time. Makes you want to vomit, sometimes, though.

I tried the thrusters, had to have someone count for me, my heart was beating like crazy. But my arms were more tired then my legs. I'm too little for the squats with bar on front. Had to squat with bar on my shoulders like I usually do. Oh ya, feel those babies!

I have done this running on my treadmill, only a couple of times so far. I just learned about it a few days ago. I read an article about "Guerilla Cardio". It's the same thing. OMG, yes, it feels like your lungs are on fire. After the third interval I wanted to quit, but I kept going. You wouldn't think 160 seconds of anything could do that to you, but it sure does!

That's what I love about interval training in general. You can get a really great workout in a very short time. And the results are great.

The exercises I generally use are thrusters, cleans, jerks and snatches (kettlebell or barbell). I also vary the length between workouts on occasion.

Paul Chek uses a similar interval where 5 exercises are used and 30-60 second breaks are taken in between... 15-20 minutes.

This is not the same as regular interval training..

It is only 4 minutes..that is important and you have to really bust your butt for those 4 minutes. If you are doing 20 minutes you are not doing this type of interval training correctly.

Wow, that looks cool. I may just try that soon.

Agree completely. But that's not to say that you won't get a terrific workout doing 20 minutes of HIIT. But they are two very different things.

I think the poster was thinking of a crossfit-style "tabata something else" -
where you do 4 mins of 20s/10s for BW squats
then pullups, then pushups, then something else (I forget). each set is truly intense - just for 4 BW exercises not just one.

[edit for duplicate] ........................

Lisa..
No. You do just one excercise..Dan John suggests front squats and thrusters because they involve lots of muscle groups so they lend themselves to more fat loss and hypertrophy.

Here are a couple more articles on Tabatas from Clarence Bass of Ripped fame.

http://www.cbass.com/FATBURN.HTM

http://www.cbass.com/SEARCHOF.HTM

will it be effective to do the thrusters if my dumbells are five pounds?

Oh yeah...In the article guys who front squat 465 lbs are using 65 lbs for Tabatas..

Of course you would have to progress to heavier weights eventually Ladyc

if i can stick with the five pound weights, i can progress