In a busy world, efficiency is king. Everyone wants the most results for their efforts in the shortest amount of time, especially when it comes to fitness. That’s one reason high-intensity interval training, or HIIT, has become so popular. Workouts of just 20 or 30 minutes can provide huge cardiovascular benefits, help you burn fat and lose weight, build stronger muscles and bones, lead to better control of your blood sugar and insulin sensitivity, and make you stronger.
But what if you don’t need to spend 30, 20 or even 10 minutes on your workout? What if you could achieve the same results, maybe even better results, in just 4 minutes? Enter Tabata.
Tabata is a specific type of interval training with very high intensity. If you do it right, the entire workout will only take 4 minutes. The problem here is that if you do it ‘right’, you can push yourself to the limit in just 160 seconds of work. Tabata is tough. According to research, it is also incredibly effective.
If you’ve been hanging around the blog for a while, you probably know that I’m a big believer in workouts that are short and sweet, or more accurately, short and intense. This former marathon runner has realized the errors of his ways, and I have spent years trying to convince my readers that the typical fitness paradigm causes people to engage in workouts that take too long and that exist in the so-called “black hole.” They are too hard to be aerobic, but not hard enough to provide maximum anaerobic benefits. In other words, workouts that break you down at least as much, if not more, than they build you up in the long run.
But Tabata isn’t your typical HIIT protocol. It’s not your typical sprint protocol (my favorite type of high-intensity exercise). It’s not your typical micro workout (despite being bite-sized). Tabata is completely its own beast.
The questions at hand today are: Should you include Tabata in your workout routine? If so, how? If not, why not?
The Tabata Training Protocol
Tabata workouts are named after Dr. Izumi Tabata, researcher and former fitness coach for the Japanese national speed skating team. Dr. Tabata was the first person to systematically measure and publish the results of the training protocol that now bears his name, although he apparently did not come up with the idea. (That was 1980s skating coach Kouichi Irisawa.)
A true Tabata training protocol, according to Dr. Tabata herself 7 to 8 ‘exhaustive sets’ of exercises performed at 170 percent of VO2max for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest in between. If you stop after 6 reps, that’s not really Tabata. It’s also not Tabata if you can last a 9th round, if you do 30 second work intervals, or if you rest for more than 10 seconds.
Dr. Tabata conducted his research using an exercise bike, which allows you to increase resistance and quickly achieve heavy exertion. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever ridden a bike with a VO2max of 170 percent (which corresponds to the intensity you can sustain for just 50 seconds of hard pedaling before falling off the bike in a puddle of sweat), but I can telling you that a four-minute workout feels like enough. Even if you only go hard for 20 seconds at a time, the 10-second rest intervals aren’t enough to really recover, so you start each new interval already at a deficit. After 8 rounds you are done.
That’s what Tabata is. What isn’t it?
Tabata vs HIIT
Tabata is not HIIT. Or is HIIT not Tabata? One of the two.
In each case, Tabata differs from HIIT in several important ways.
- HIIT workouts generally last 20 or 30 minutes, perhaps an hour. Tabata workouts last exactly 4. Not anymore.
- With HIIT training, recovery periods last anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, and this can involve either total rest or lower-intensity activity, for example pedaling with lighter resistance. Tabata workouts involve 10 seconds of total rest, period.
- True Tabata, as described by the doctor of the same name, must be performed with the prescribed intensity. HIIT workouts, while challenging when done correctly, are not nearly as intense.
That last point is where many people get confused. There is simply no way to continue for 20 minutes, let alone an hour, at the intensity that Dr. Tabata prescribes. Even the strongest elite athletes in the world would struggle to complete multiple rounds with proper form and at the right intensity, let alone the average guy taking an hour-long “Tabata class” at the local gym. If you keep it up that long, you will be forced to reduce your output. These so-called Tabata workouts that stack multiple rounds of 20-second on/10-second off exercises are not Tabata in the true sense of the word. Tabatastyle, maybe. HIIT, for sure.
That’s fine. There are plenty of proven benefits to HIIT, but it’s not Tabata.
Tabata vs sprinting
Tabata and sprinting have a lot in common: very short, very intense work intervals. Relatively short. You feel stronger than exhausted for the rest of the day.
But Tabata doesn’t sprint.
The two biggest differences are that with sprintingTake longer rest intervals so that you start each sprint fairly fresh and you can perform a maximum of 8 or 10 repetitions.
Advantages
For my money, Tabata’s biggest advantage, especially compared to other types of HIIT training, is its efficiency. Mine biggest problem with HIIT training in general, it’s easy to overdo it, in exactly the way that Primal Blueprint Fitness discourages. The line between HIIT and… chronic cardio is often blurry. An hour-long HIIT class will almost certainly keep you at a black hole heart rate. Tabata won’t do that.
In this way, Tabata is much more similar to the sprint training I advocate. And everything I like about sprinting—short, all-out efforts that boost growth hormone, increase fat burning, promote insulin sensitivity, and deliver full-body fitness benefits– should also be true for Tabata.
The other thing to note about Tabata is that, compared to other types of exercise, it seems to uniquely maximize gains for both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. According to research from the laboratory of Dr. Tabata: the 20-second intervals at 170 percent VO2max were a good place to target both. Most types of exercise preferentially benefit one or the other.
Tabata training: how do you do it?
By now you’re familiar with the basics: do a good warm-up, hop on an exercise bike, increase the resistance and start with your 20-second work/rest intervals. Do eight reps, cool down, hydrate, stop doing something. Maybe go for a walk.
Tabata really is that simple. You’ll know you’re reaching the right intensity when you have to dig deep to complete those seventh and eighth reps.
What if you don’t have access to an exercise bike? Dr. Tabata cautions that we don’t know if the benefits extend to modes other than cycling, but I see no reason to think they would be cycle-specific. Any exercise that allows you to achieve high work output in 20 seconds should be equally effective. The great thing about the bike is that you can go from total rest to hard pedaling with a quick turn of the resistance knob. You could probably replicate that with a Versaclimber, battle ropes, sled push, or even an elliptical.
I see a lot of Tabata workouts with four or five four-minute exercises, such as burpees, kettlebell swings, Russian twists, jumping jacks, mountain climbers and the like. They use the same 20/10 split, but the fact that it’s 16 or 20 total work intervals tells you that the intensity just isn’t the same, which you can feel. There is no way that 20 seconds of planking is as hard as 20 seconds of cycling with high resistance. Therefore, they are not really Tabata.
That’s not a problem for that kind of training. They are still HIIT and you will reap the benefits. For beginners, this lower-intensity (but still challenging) Tabata-style type of HIIT workout is a safer place to start. That said, since you’re not doing strict Tabata training anyway, there’s no reason to strictly limit yourself to the 20/10 intervals.
It comes down to
While I love Tabata, I wouldn’t only do Tabata workouts. Much research shows that intervals with other lengths and intensities are also worthwhile. Just like I don’t always do the same kinds of things deadlifts or squats, and I change the surfaces I sprint onit makes sense to do different types of interval training. Mixing it will probably give you the best value for your money long-term.
If you still want to do a Tabata session, I recommend doing this instead of your weekly session sprint. Or you can do it in addition; just pay attention to your recovery and make sure you don’t overdo it. Remember that real Tabata workouts are difficult. Very difficult. Not for the faint of heart. (Literally. If you have heart problems, check with your doctor before doing such a strenuous workout.)
And you? Have you incorporated Tabata into your workout routine? Do you notice any benefits?
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