My friend Kathy (strange to call her anything but "Sausage" -- aren't rugby nicknames great?) pasted a link to this CrossFit workout in a comment she left in response to my last post.
She says, "I just read the article in the mag on [the Tabata Protocol] ... never thought 4 minutes could be so painful until I met a workout called 'fight gone bad.'"
Indeed, I would not want to meet this workout in a dark alley.
Originally designed for mixed martial artist B.J. Penn, with the metabolic demands of ultimate fighting in mind, "Fight Gone Bad" is an intense, five-minute weightlifting, plyometrics and cardio circuit that's repeated three times, with a one-minute break between rounds (just barely enough time to be able to breathe again ... sort of). So, 17 minutes total. If you live that long.
After watching the video of the workout, I can see how the first five minutes could do you in. And I have yet to make it through one four-minute Tabata round on the treadmill (although I have muscled through it on the stationary bike now). But still ... does anyone else want to work out right this minute?
It looks like you can rig up a similar circuit at nearly any gym (that is, you don't have to be at a CrossFit facility) as a way to build your work capacity without courting your slow-twitch muscle fibers -- fast-twitch types, rejoice!
UPDATE: As I was perusing the workout and exercise list at CrossFit.com (some really amazing stuff there), I came across a Tabata version of the "Fight Gone Bad" workout! See the video here (complete with music from Culture Club).
This is hands-down my fave CrossFit workout and they've done it twice in the past 2 months!! Thanks for the Tabata link - hadn't seen that one before!