Video: Tabata Kettlebell options. Go the max for 4 minutes. And if you survive you gain...

I am only beginning to self consciously do the HIIT via a Tabata protocol. Today for instance I survived kettlebelling 20 seconds on and ten rest seconds off x 6.

Fortunately, you can work your way up to the full 20 seconds on/10 seconds off protocol by using different time variations.

10 seconds on, 20 seconds off x 8

15 seconds on, 15 seconds off x 8

20 seconds on, 10 seconds off x 8 (reference)

Whew! That's so I won't kill myself. And that's nice to know. The draw back is that the level of exertion required is high -- an intensity of 170% of VO2max. (The woman in the picture is 62 years old). But at most only 3 times per week for maybe 4-5 minutes each time.

VO2 max  is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during incremental exercise.

I can live -- in  a fashion -- with that. The main game is to ensure the exercise is easy and not complex -- quickly completed without any complicated moves. It's a quick  up/down thing rather than this as well as that. If all else doesn't suit, or you are without apparatus -- you simply do squats, or sprints, or something simple...

But for now I'm using Tabata music  which gives you the intervals with a snappy beat of your choosing. Sweat music on my mp3 player.

The irony is this: would you pay $$$$ gym  membership to go there for 4.5 minutes three days per week? Despite the fact that the science is supportive of  just such a regime...

I don't think so. YOUR problem -- which is also my problem --  is keeping it up.