Doing jump squats in Tabata-style intervals for 4 minutes burns more calories per minute—and keeps up the calorie burn post-exercise—more than previously thought, finds new research. What’s more: this body weight-based move will help build all-important bone mass density—something we lose each year we age. Sounds too good to be true, and in some ways it is. True Tabata-style intervals are 20 seconds of go-all-out effort followed by 10 seconds of rest. Go eight rounds—which ends up being 4 minutes—and you will be spent. But that’s exactly the point and why this workout is so beneficial. “The truth of the matter is you can’t do nothing for 4 minutes and get something,” says Michele Olson, PhD, and principal researcher at the Auburn University at Montgomery Kinesiology Laboratory. On Friday, Dr. Olson will present research at the American College of Sports Medicine 60th Annual Conference and the 3rd World Congress on Exercise is Medicine that shows doing the explosive Tabata-style interval training of squat jumps for 20-seconds followed by a 10-second break between each of the 8 rounds burns 13.5 calories a minute (“which is pretty darn high,” says Olson) and doubles your metabolic rate (aka amount of calories you burn) for 30 minutes afterwards. More from Prevention: Can You Get Fit In 3 Minutes? “Participants burned an average of 135 calories in total [from the 4-minute workout and the 30 minutes of rest after],” Dr. Olson told Prevention.com. “To burn the same amount of calories walking, you would have to walk at a pace of 4.5 mph [approximately a 13:40-minute mile] for 20 minutes. What this can translate to is for someone who is short on time, they can improve their cardiovascular fitness.” Burning calories quickly and efficiently isn’t the only benefit to this training style, especially using jump squat for your intervals. “It is good to load the bones,” says Dr. Olson, who has her training clients, ranging in age between 35 and 60 years, do this specific workout. Doing weight baring exercises, such as this one, helps our bones get stronger. In addition, there is definitely something else going on than just calorie burn. Olson cites researchers using metabolic training similar to the Tabata method that involves positively changing the lipid levels of obese patients. More from Prevention: 12 Ways to Break-Proof Your Bones Want to give it a go? Remember Tabata-style intervals are meant to be at your own all-out effort. In other words, the only way you’ll experience the results that are being seen in kinesiology labs around the country is to push yourself. “Start with a bang and if you are reaching maximum output and can’t go for the entire 20 second interval, that’s okay,” Olson says.
