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Karatabata (age 10+)

KSD karateka

Ken Shu Dojo offer a bespoke Karatabata fitness class for all members once a week at the dojo in Whitefield, Manchester. The class is additional to the regular karate classes KSD provides and welcomes members looking to supplement their karate through fitness, strength and core workouts but also members who are not actively involved in the karate classes such as parents or other family members looking to improve their fitness.

Members fitness test in KSD Karatabata karate based exercise class

Karatabata is not a traditional karate class, it is martial arts based interval training combing lots of different exercises with some basic karate skills thrown into the mix.


What is Tabata?

Tabata is a popular regimen, based on a 1996 study by Izumi Tabata, using 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for four minutes (eight cycles). Tabata called this the IE1 protocol. In the original study, athletes using this method trained four times per week, plus another day of steady-state training, and obtained gains similar to a group of athletes who did steady state (70% VO2max) training 5 times per week. The steady state group had a higher VO2max at the end (from 52 to 57 ml/kg/min), but the Tabata group had started lower and gained more overall (from 48 to 55 ml/kg/min). Also, only the Tabata group had gained anaerobic capacity benefits.


Members fitness test in KSD Karatabata karate based exercise class

What is Karatabata?

Ken Shu Dojo Karate Club’s Karatabata class is a high intensity program that also uses some strength work covering the whole body. It is a non-contact martial arts based fitness class.

You go at your own pace with some gentle encouragement from the instructor.

To keep the classes engaging and exciting the content changes every week. We also vary the rate of timing from class to class: typical HIIT Tabata sessions are 20 seconds exercise 10 seconds rest over eight cycles (four minutes). Each Karatabata class is an hour long.

We use the following set timing rates:

  • (20 seconds exercise + 10 seconds rest) x 8 sets
  • (30 seconds exercise + 10 seconds rest) x 7 sets
  • (45 seconds exercise + 15 seconds rest) x 6 sets

We also use a Super Set of (30 seconds exercise + 10 seconds rest) x 6 sets where after at the sixth set we do a minute flat out.

The class is delivered by or under the supervision of Sensei Daz, a Level 3 Personal Instructor with a Level 4 diploma in Fitness & Exercise.


Karatabata class members

Benefits of Karatabata

The advantages of joining the KSD Karatabata classes are simple:

  • firm up;
  • get fighting fit;
  • feel good;
  • have a laugh;
  • and meet new people.

Everyone is welcoming and non-judgmental. Come down to the dojo and give Tabata a try the KSD Karate way.

Take a look at our class timetable to see when Karatabata classes take place.