Product examined: 4 Minute Abs - Over priced, over hyped, lame copy (rip-off) of the Tabata training method. They try to make you believe that this is some kind of super secret exercise program for burning fat.

Tabata trianing program is not a secret exercise program. Any exercise can be incorporated into the Tabata training. However the basic outline of the Tabata training method are as follows:
• 4 minutes long (whole Tabata Session)
• 20 seconds of intense training
• 10 seconds of rest
• Total of 8 sessions or rounds

4 Minute Abs is a version of HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and was based on a 1996 study by Professor Izumi Tabata, initially involving Olympic speed skaters, uses 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). The exercise was performed on a mechanically braked cycle ergo meter. Tabata called this the IE1 protocol. In the original study, athletes using this method trained 4 times per week, plus another day of steady-state training, and obtained gains similar to a group of athletes who did steady state training 5 times per week. The steady state group had a higher VO2max at the end (from 52 to 57 ml/kg/min), but the Tabata group had started lower and gained more overall (from 48 to 55 ml/kg/min). Also, only the Tabata group had gained anaerobic capacity benefits.

While I don’t have anything against the 4 Minute Abs program itself, anything that gets people moving is a good thing. I have a problem with the way it is sold online. A number of of personal improvement products are sold in a similar manner which try and get the consumer to buy more products through slightly deceptive methods before reaching the checkout page sometimes signing you up for monthly programs at a cost of $25.00 or more per month in the process. Well, with 4 Minute Abs at least you can find the “no thank you” button if you look hard enough (at the bottom of a very long and boring page) and you have a chance to cancel your purchase once you get to the checkout page.

I also have to wonder why 4 Minute Abs make you buy a hardcopy of their program (book) rather than a downloadable version. Is it because you are less likely to go through the trouble of getting your money back if you have to send a physical product back?

A number of exercise programs that start out telling you how slim you can get while eating all your favorite foods. Then when you get the program booklet it also comes with a diet program you should follow for optimum results. One of the more useful suggestions 4 Minute Abs make is to eliminate high-fructose corn syrup from your diet.

High-fructose corn syrup is making America fat. How? By shutting off the switches that control appetite. It's more easily turned into fat than any other carbohydrate. And it's everywhere, from the obvious places like Coke and Mountain Dew to barbecue sauce and canned soup (Men’s Health). So it comes as no surprise the 4 Minute Abs as well as other diet and exercise programs would recommend eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from your diet. Most exercise programs that keep you from getting stuck in a rut will help you burn off your excess fat quickly.

Scary Fitness Trend #3 (From Men’s Health): Extreme Workouts That Are Too . . . Extreme It’s cool to push yourself in the gym. In fact, you should push yourself. What’s not so cool: To push yourself beyond your limits. It’s a quick way to get injured. But in fitness circles, this practice is trending. The idea is this: You work yourself to complete exhaustion, no matter how sloppy your form gets. At the end of your workout, you feel an air of satisfaction, knowing you gave it your all.

But here's the problem: As fatigue starts to set in during an exercise, form starts to falter. That's a fact. "When this happens, your body starts to compensate, altering the muscle fibers that are recruited as well as delaying reflexes," says Men's Health fitness adviser Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S, co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training. "This causes overload to joints and soft-tissues, and makes fatigue a key component of injury potential."

This is one of the problems with 4 Minute Abs. Everybody is looking for the quick fix. Not everyone can do the recommended exercises especially if they haven’t done any real exercise in years. Sometime there are limiting physical factors that prevent you from doing certain exercises. While most exercise programs tell you to check with your doctor before starting any exercise program, the reality is that very few people will follow that particular set of instructions.

If you buy 4 Minute Abs or start a Tabata training program of your own, we recommend that you start out slowly letting your body get use to the exercises. Push yourself, but don’t over do it. Remember this is an extreme cardio workout and you are suppose to be a little winded at the end of each exercise set.

Stick to it. The number one reason most people fail is that they failed to stay with whatever kind of exercise program they invested themselves in. 4 Minute Abs says, “Give us 2 weeks and we’ll show you results.” Staying with any program for 2 weeks will produce results, how much results depends on the program, the individual, and the intensity at which you trained. More importantly, after 2 weeks your exercise program starts to become part of your daily routine. After a month of exercising it starts to become a habit. If you mix high intensity cardio with weight training you will see even better results, but what you have to do first is make exercise a habit in your weekly routine.

Keep your exercise program fresh, keep your body guessing what kind of physical activity you will demand of it next, always push yourself a little harder and you can avoid the plateaus that come with doing the same boring thing over and over again. Yes, you can lose weight just by jogging, but you can lose even more weight if you jogged on Friday, weight trained on Monday, Tabata training on Tuesday and Thursday, hundred yard dashes on Wednesday, Yoga on Sunday, and partied (or whatever) on Saturday (you need at least one day off), you would tone up your body and start stripping away the fat. The point is mixing it up will produce better results overall.

Your results will get even better if you begin to watch what you eat. If you just took out all the junk food and sodas from your diet you would begin to lose weight. If you drank more water and controlled how much you eat you would get even better results. If you mix healthy eating habits with a mixed exercise routine you really wouldn’t need exercise programs like 4 Minute Abs. Then you could use the money you saved not buying useless exercising programs on a pizza with everything every other Saturday night. Just remember to bring an extra person or two to help keep you from overeating.

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