4 minute cardio

[nature boy]

a friend posted something about this on facebook, and i did a little poking around and found this vid. i tried it (since it's only 4 minutes), and if you really push it's quite a workout. i didn't sweat, but i'm pretty sure my heartrate was way up there.
i thought it might be a good thing for those of us with hectic schedules.

[geForce]

These routines are similar to the Insanity workout, except Insanity has you do it for 30 minutes.

[nature boy]

Yeah, I think that's the point. Putting aside 4 minutes is a lot less daunting than putting aside 30.

[jeSteR]

I think that 4 minutes would actually make me feel ripped off. If I work hard enough that I should be showering afterwards, then it'd better be for a workout that burned off a lot more than 150 calories.

[se7entse7en]

...And take longer than the shower.

[joel]

i didn't watch the vid, so i don't know what's involved in this 4 minute workout. but i would just say that any extremely intensive workout without some kind of ramp-up or warm-up can seriously increase the risk of injury

my warm-up is usually 5-10 minutes alone to get my body/heart into a point that i start stressing it.

but i don't want to discourage you 4 minutes of any workout is better than 0. so if that's all you can spare, i think you should keep it up. just don't push it too hard.

[nature boy]

apparently some japanese dude came up with it for training his olympic team:
http://www.menshealth.com/deltafit/unbe ... io-workout

doesn't sound like it's for fat burning as much as it is to help with your cardio.

[joel]

based on the article, it sounds it is talking about a 4-minute routine. not a complete workout that only lasts a total of 4 minutes. i think the idea is to do the routine rest 1 minute, then repeat or do another 4-minute routine. sound very similar to interval training... combining short bursts of high intensity and rests/breaks between.

[nature boy]

yeah, i think the vid even mentions that it could be for cool down or finisher for your regular routine (or was that another video?).
i don't think this 4 minute thing will get you into shape, but like you said, it's 4 minutes that better than 0 minutes.