Tabata Session 6: skater hops, plank up-downs, lateral lunges, hollow body holds
A ready-to-execute bodyweight Tabata session — skater hops, plank up-downs, lateral lunges, and hollow body holds — with the full 20/10 interval clock, three-level scaling, and a demonstration video for every movement.
Workout snapshot
Four movements, four Tabata blocks, and nothing to set up beyond a patch of floor. Every block runs the same interval — 20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest, eight times — which puts the whole session at about 30 minutes once the warm-up and cool-down are counted.
| Prescription | |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabata — 20 s work / 10 s rest × 8 rounds per movement |
| Movements | Skater hops, plank up-downs, lateral lunges, hollow body holds |
| Main block | 4 minutes per movement, 16 minutes total |
| Rest between movements | 60–90 seconds |
| Warm-up | 4:10 or 6:37 |
| Cool-down | 7:05 or 5:47 |
| Total session time | about 30 minutes |
| Equipment | None. About 6 ft × 6 ft of clear floor, water, and a timer |
What the 20/10 interval asks of you
The format comes from a 1996 study at the National Institute of Health and Nutrition in Tokyo. Seven men rode a cycle ergometer five days a week for six weeks. Each session was seven to eight bouts of 20 seconds at roughly 170% of VO2max, with 10 seconds of rest between bouts. Over the six weeks their VO2max rose by 7 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹ and their anaerobic capacity rose by 28%. A second group in the same study rode 60 minutes at 70% of VO2max; their aerobic power improved and their anaerobic capacity stayed flat. 1
A follow-up paper from the same lab measured what the short bouts do to the body. Twenty seconds of hard work with 10 seconds of rest drove both the aerobic and the anaerobic systems close to their maximum, which is the property the format is named for. 2 Izumi Tabata's 2019 review of the method, written from the viewpoint of exercise energetics, describes it as one of the most energetically effective forms of high-intensity intermittent training. 3
The ergometer's 170% of VO2max has no home equivalent, so this session sets intensity by feel. Work at the hardest pace you can hold with clean form for the full 20 seconds. High-intensity intervals are defined as repeated short bursts at a near-maximal or all-out effort with rest between them. 4 Round 8 should be the hardest minute of the block. When round 8 looks like round 1, raise the pace or the movement.
Before you start
Measure out your space before the first jump. Side-to-side hops need about 6 feet of width, and the hollow hold needs enough room to lie flat with your arms overhead.
Wear cushioned trainers. Wood, rubber, or a sprung gym floor absorbs landing forces better than concrete, and a mat under the hollow hold saves your spine if the floor is hard. Keep water within reach.
This is a hard day. Put an easy day on either side of it, and repeat the session later in the week only if all four blocks finished with clean form.
Stop the session for chest pressure, dizziness, a sharp pain in a joint, or breathlessness that has not settled by the end of a 10-second rest. Anyone with a heart condition, uncontrolled blood pressure, or a joint injury should get clearance from a doctor before starting high-intensity intervals.
Warm-up: 4 minutes
Cold legs and surprise jumps are a bad pairing. Take one of these two options. The first one runs on the same clock as the main block, so by the time you finish it you already know what 20 seconds of work feels like.
| Option | Length | Why you would pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Tabata Songs warm-up | 4:10 | Eight movements on the same 20/10 clock, so the interval rhythm is already in your legs |
| MadFit full-body warm-up | 6:37 | Longer build-up and more joint work, useful on a cold morning or with stiff hips |
Option A — Tabata Songs warm-up (4:10). Jumping jacks, down dog toe touch, single-leg Romanian deadlift, push-up with rotation, squats, plank, lunge jumps, and mountain climbers, all cued by music at 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. 5
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Option B — MadFit full-body warm-up (6:37). A five-minute routine built for workouts done at home, with more time in the hips and shoulders. 6
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Main block
Run the four movements in the order below. Each movement gets its own eight rounds, and you rest 60 to 90 seconds between movements — long enough to get your breath back, short enough that your heart rate stays up.
| Round | Work | Rest |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0:00–0:20 | 0:20–0:30 |
| 2 | 0:30–0:50 | 0:50–1:00 |
| 3 | 1:00–1:20 | 1:20–1:30 |
| 4 | 1:30–1:50 | 1:50–2:00 |
| 5 | 2:00–2:20 | 2:20–2:30 |
| 6 | 2:30–2:50 | 2:50–3:00 |
| 7 | 3:00–3:20 | 3:20–3:30 |
| 8 | 3:30–3:50 | 3:50–4:00 |
Set a 20/10 interval timer on your phone and you can ignore the clock entirely. Those times apply to every one of the four blocks.
Movement 1: Skater hops
Target: lateral power and cardio. Interval: 20 s on / 10 s off × 8 rounds (0:00–4:00).
- Stand on your left leg with a slight bend in the knee and your hips pushed back.
- Push off the left foot and jump sideways onto your right foot.
- Let the left leg swing behind the landing leg, and land soft with the knee bent.
- Push straight back to the left. Alternate sides each rep.
Load the front leg and reach with the back leg on every bound. The Runner's Flat demonstrates the movement that way, describing it as work for the legs and the core at once. 7
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Form cues: chest up, hips back as though sitting into a chair. Land on the middle of the foot and let the knee bend to absorb the landing. Keep the landing knee pointing the same way as the toes, and keep the jumps quiet enough that a neighbor would not hear them.
Movement 2: Plank up-downs
Target: shoulders, triceps, and the core that keeps the hips level. Interval: 20 s on / 10 s off × 8 rounds.
- Start in a high plank, hands under the shoulders, feet hip-width apart, hips level with the shoulders.
- Lower your right forearm to the floor, then your left, so you are resting on both elbows.
- Press back up onto the right hand, then the left.
- Lead with the other arm on the next rep, alternating for the full 20 seconds.
Tone and Tighten demonstrates the up-down plank as a way to add upper-body, arm, and shoulder work to a static plank hold. 8
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Form cues: squeeze the glutes so the hips stay level and square to the floor. Keep the ribs drawn down toward the hips. Each elbow lands under the shoulder rather than out to the side. If the hips start rocking side to side, the core has quit on the set.
Movement 3: Lateral lunges
Target: hips, quads, inner thighs, and single-leg control. Interval: 20 s on / 10 s off × 8 rounds.
- Stand tall with your feet together and your hands at your chest.
- Step wide to the left and sit back into the left hip, keeping the right leg straight.
- Keep both feet pointing forward and the right foot flat on the floor.
- Push off the left foot to return to standing, then step to the right. Alternate sides.
Revival Performance Physical Therapy, whose demonstration is led by a Doctor of Physical Therapy, shows the step width and hip position that keep the load in the leg rather than the knee. 9
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Form cues: the bending knee tracks over the toes of the same foot. The straight leg stays long, with its foot flat on the floor. The chest stays lifted as you sit back, and the weight travels into the heel of the bending leg.
Movement 4: Hollow body holds
Target: the deep abdominal wall, teaching it to hold the lower back flat. Interval: 20 s hold / 10 s off × 8 rounds.
- Lie on your back with your knees bent, your feet on the floor, and your arms at your sides.
- Press the lower back into the floor and lift the shoulder blades a few inches off it.
- Reach the arms overhead and straighten the legs to the level where the lower back stays flat.
- Hold for the full 20 seconds, then use the 10-second rest to reset your position.
Men's Health fitness director Ebenezer Samuel walks through the position and the mistakes that show up in a hollow hold. 10
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Form cues: the lower back keeps contact with the floor for the whole round. When it arches, bend the knees or bring the arms back to your sides. Breathe steadily the whole time. If the basic hold becomes easy, Zack Henderson's beginner-to-advanced progressions show where to take it next, from hollow rocks to hanging versions.
Choose your level before you start
The clock stays the same at every level. Only the movement changes, and the point of scaling is to keep the pace near-maximal for all eight rounds rather than to make any single round look impressive.
| Movement | Beginner | Intermediate | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skater hops | Step side to side, keeping both feet near the floor | Bounds of about 2 feet, alternating sides | Wider bounds, holding each landing for a beat before pushing off again |
| Plank up-downs | Do them from your knees | Full up-downs from the toes, one elbow at a time | Add a push-up each time you return to the high plank |
| Lateral lunges | Shorter step, hands on your hips, sitting back only as far as feels controlled | Full step out and back at a steady tempo | Deeper sit, or a one-count pause at the bottom before you push back |
| Hollow body holds | Knees bent, feet on the floor, arms by your sides | Legs extended and arms overhead, held for the full 20 seconds | Legs extended and arms overhead for the whole round; add a slow rock if the hold runs out of challenge |
Pick a column for each movement before the first block starts, and stay in that column for the whole block. Different movements can sit in different columns — many people are intermediate on the plank and a beginner on the hollow hold, and the session still works.
Cool-down: 6 minutes
The load landed in three places: the shoulders and triceps in the plank up-downs, the hips and inner thighs in the skater hops and lateral lunges, and the front of the abdomen in the hollow holds. Either routine below covers all three.
Option A — MadFit full-body cool-down (7:05). A general stretch sequence for after any workout, with no equipment. 11
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Option B — Group HIIT cool-down (5:47). Shorter, and sequenced for the muscles a HIIT session leaves tight. 12
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Log the result
Write these down while you are still catching your breath:
- Blocks completed: ___ / 4
- Rounds completed in each block: ___ / 8, ___ / 8, ___ / 8, ___ / 8
- Level column used, movement by movement: ____________________
- The first movement where form broke: ____________________
- Rest taken between movements: ____ seconds
- Where the breath came back by: ____ seconds into the rest
Those last two lines decide the next session. When all four blocks finish with all eight rounds and clean form, move each movement one column to the right and run it again. When form broke before round 6 in two or more movements, stay in the same column and aim for cleaner rounds instead of more of them.
Cover photo: jump shot of a woman wearing activewear via Pexels.
References
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- 5Tabata Warm up \| 4 Minutes \| Pre-Workout
youtube.com
- 6
- 7How To Do Skater Hops
youtube.com
- 8How to do an Up-Down Plank
youtube.com
- 9Lateral lunge - how to do it right.
youtube.com
- 10
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- 12
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