Re: Tabata Training for Self Defense by Damian Ross

[Dallas Williams]

Yeah people who are trying to loose weight or shall we say more appropriately body fat tend and experts tend to tell them to put way too much emphasis on steady state cardio like biking, walking, swimming, jogging, etc. at a steady rate for so many minutes a day. More emphasis needs to be put on training to build strength and muscle since not only do you burn calories while doing the actual exercises but long after you are finished you’re body’s metabolic rate still stays elevated for quite some time in an effort to repair and rebuild the muscle breakdown you caused to occur while training. Unless you are training for a marathon or something it is much more applicable and important for overall health and day to day life to be able to have the strength and muscular endurance to perform every day tasks, preserve muscle as we age and prevent or at least delay the health consequences that come with muscle loss in older age, and last but not least should a situation come up where we have to “fight” or “flee” we will have the strength and stamina necessary to do so. I don’t see any way steady state cardio really helps with any of these other than simply burning extra calories. So if you are skinny and trying to gain weight and strength training you will have to eat more to supply the calories needed to build muscle but if you are overweight and trying to loose fat your body will use the stored energy in this excess bodyfat to build muscle provided you still watch your caloric intake and don’t overeat. What cardio we should do whether you’re trying to loose, gain, or maintain weight should be limited and should consist mostly of interval training such as running sprints or even better doing SDTS drills on the training dummy , this will give your cardiovascular system a hell of a lot better of a workout anyway and burn more calories in a shorter amount of time than say walking 4 miles a day!