Ya gotta Tabata, right? When many of my clients hear this word, they typically cringe. Although, I love to see the looks on their faces as they anxiously wait to hear which exercises are on the Tabata menu.

So, what is a Tabata anyway? It is a 4 -minute high-intensity workout that can include anywhere between 1,2, or 4 exercises. You do work as hard as you can for 20 seconds and then you give yourself a 10-second rest before hitting it hard again. Depending on how many exercises are chosen and which they are, the 10 seconds rest can quickly become the transition period between exercises. Who needs a rest anyway? It’s only 4 minutes, right?

If you are truly giving it all you’ve got, Tabatas are certainly efficient. The amount of fat that can be burned during this high-intensity workout is well worth the 4 minutes! I use them as either starter to a workout (I typically choose more core-based movements on these as to not completely wear my clients out from the start), as a finisher or when in a time crunch – such as busy holidays!

While you can put all kinds of different exercises into a Tabata – core, plyometrics, lower body, upper body – I really enjoy using some form of compound or combo movements when creating them for a time crunch. This type of work puts more demand on the body – thus making you work harder!

Here is a sample workout I have written for members to complete during their 4^th of July festivities!

I have 3 Tabatas written out! You can complete 1, 2, or all 3!

Tabata 1 – Red

Tabata 2 – White

Tabata 3 – Blue

This whole workout can only take you 4 minutes or longest, 12 minutes – both of which anyone can spare some time for! This 4th of July holiday, I am using these as part of my Warrior Body classes in my gym in Morgantown, West Virginia!

We’re getting them in before the festivities begin and turning ourselves into a fat burning machine all day long! Are you ready to Tabata?!

The post The Red, White, and Blue Tabata Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

None of these things are getting you healthy and fit, or muscular and ripped. And they are not going to.

Currently, most of the industry worships at the Church of High Intensity Training (HIT). You know, that “next thing” that is going to deliver all the same health and fitness benefits of moving a few hours a day, in just a few minutes a day, instead. It is an easy sell. Exercise for a fraction of the time and get the same results, right? Who doesn’t want that?

Like all things, there are positives to the surge in HIT’s popularity. If anything gets people off the couch and moving, even for just a few minutes per day with the aim to be healthier, as a trainer, I am all for it. If it makes someone’s goals of being healthier seem more achievable, then I am for that too. The bottom line is, if something is getting someone off the couch and moving more, hell, get doing it. Now. Even if it’s a shake weight. (Okay, maybe not; I have to draw the line somewhere.)

A huge number of HIT workouts are based on the famous 1996 study by Professor Izumi Tabata.¹ And why not? A 4-minute workout that has both aerobic and anaerobic fitness benefits and is great for fat loss?

Done right, HIT can work, but not in 4 minutes. When we say that it will, we are setting people up for failure. Like all things that sound too good to be true, it actually is. And here is why.

The Theory of Specificity

Professor Tabata’s study was completed in 1996, using Olympic speed skaters as subjects. His study used 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (7-8 cycles). The exercise was performed on a mechanically-braked cycle ergometer. Tabata called this the IE1 protocol. This was done 4 days per week, with a day of steady-state training as well.

In other words, unless you are doing all these things…

1. An Olympic or very high level athlete
2. Using a mechanically-braked cycle ergometer
3. Training at an intensity of 170% of VO2max
4. Training 5 days a week (4 x IE1 + 1 steady-state)

…then you are not doing Tabata training. In fact, in the original study from 1996, participants were disqualified if they could not keep a steady cycling pace of 85RPM for the full 20 seconds of work.

The Steady-State Secrets

The steady-state group, who trained five days per week for one hour at 70% VO2max, had a higher VO2max at the end of the study (from 52 to 57 mL/(kg.min), and the results continued to climb over the study. The Tabata group started lower and improved more overall (from 48 to 55 mL/(kg.min) but then peaked. But you don’t hear about the results of the steady-state group, do you?

The group doing the IE1 Tabata protocol also did more steady-state work than HIT. You won’t find it mentioned anywhere in the dribble that is sold online, but the Olympians did a day of steady-state work for 30 minutes, and a 10-minute steady-state warm up on the four days that they completed the protocol. So at a minimum, that’s 70 minutes per week of steady-state cardio, plus cool down time. And the protocol itself was just 16 minutes for the 4 sessions. Seeing a problem yet?

The 4 minute Tabata isn’t looking like 4 minutes now, is it? And if the warm up, cool down, and steady-state day is actually longer in duration than the intervals, what does that say about the findings?

You Can’t Go That Hard

100% of someone’s VO2max is associated with exhaustion and vomiting. Think about what 170% of someone’s VO2max is like for a second. That is the intensity required for true Tabata protocol training.

Any sort of submaximal lift, band work, battle rope, sled, kettlebell, or callisthenic work won’t even come close to this sort of output. Usually, when testing VO2max, the wattage on the bike is turned up gradually until there is no further oxygen uptake measured. This is the point of exhaustion and vomiting. Now repeat that for 7-8 rounds with only 10 seconds’ rest.

Fat loss was never recorded

The biggest BS about the Tabata protocol are the claims of its efficacy for fat loss. Fat loss using the Tabata protocol has actually never been studied. There have been other studies on HIT and interval training with regard to fat loss, but not on the Tabata protocol itself.

Is it possible that it is effective for fat loss? Yes, since HIT in general has been proven to be effective as a tool for weight loss. Is it more or less effective than other types of training? We don’t know. Until comparative studies based on the exact IE1 protocol are done comparing it to other types of training, we won’t actually know. The study, as it was completed, tells us nothing about its usefulness in fat loss.

Cardio Isn’t a Sin

For some reason, the Church of High Intensity has embarked on a crusade against steady-state cardio. Steady-state training devotees are getting a slamming at the moment, and yet the benefits of it are well established:

• Improved cardiovascular output
• Improved recovery
• Improved stroke volume and resting heart rate through adaptations to the left ventricle
• Reduced stress through improved parasympathetic nervous system response
• Greater aerobic base for anaerobic output

In fact, some studies² even show that moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) led to greater reductions in body weight and heart rate than HIT, which is vitally important for cardiovascular disease prevention.

Four Minutes Will Not Get You Fit

Let’s be clear: you aren’t and never will be doing the Tabata protocol or true Tabata training. Training at this level was exhausting for Olympic-level athletes, let alone mere mortals, and carries with it an increased risk of injury, depending on the activity and skill of the participant. So let’s stop calling it Tabata training. Standards are important. Doing some interval work similar to the protocol, or other HIT is totally okay, but it is important to note that training other energy systems and doing other metabolic work like steady-state cardio are just as important.

Real Tabata training can be downright brutal. I don’t want to scare people back onto the couch because of the intensity that is required to train this way, especially if they are just getting back into health and fitness. Considering the overall health and comfort factor when training obese or very overweight clients, or those suffering from cardiovascular disease, steady-state cardio is my go-to. People need to get healthy before they get fit. And if we don’t terrify them, they might stick to it for longer.

Moving more doesn’t necessarily equate to “better,” but there will never be a substitute for putting the effort in that is required to stay healthy and gain real fitness. The cost is the cost.

The longest-living cultures, and those that suffer the least chronic preventable disease on the planet, engage in roughly 2-3 hours of low-to-moderate intensity physical activity most days. And here we are trying to kid ourselves we can get the same benefit in just four minutes.

But that’s a hard sell, isn’t it?

If you’re looking for the easy way to get fit, you aren’t going to find it:

There Are No Tricks in Fitness

References:

1. Tabata, Izumi, Kouji Nishimura, Motoki Kouzaki, Yuusuke Hirai, Futoshi Ogita, Motohiko Miyachi, and Kaoru Yamamoto. “Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 28, no. 10 (1996): 1327-1330.

2. Liou, Kevin, Suyen Ho, Jennifer Fildes, and Sze-Yuan Ooi. “High intensity interval versus moderate intensity continuous training in patients with coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis of physiological and clinical parameters.” Heart, Lung and Circulation 25, no. 2 (2016): 166-174.

The post Tabata Training and the Myth of the 4-Minute Workout appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Furthermore, Tabata workouts were done at maximal effort and should not (and may be physiologically difficult to) continue past eight sets. Thus, an hour-long “Tabata” workout is not a Tabata workout. To get the benefits of high-intensity, short-duration workouts, it is wise to investigate the original research and modern research. 

As such, I’ve put together an overview for you, so we can walk through the origins of Tabata workouts, why and how they worked, and how some other intervals may (or may not) work for you, as well.

“Planks for twenty seconds followed by ten seconds rest might be a good workout, but it is a different workout from the original research.”

Dr. Tabata’s Original Research

Izumi Tabata had been publishing research on the aerobic and anaerobic systems prior to his seminal work. He put people through many different sprinting-type protocols to see how and when the different energy systems of the body were used. ATP, the key molecule used for energy production, is synthesized by both aerobic and anaerobic processes (in different ways). Tabata aimed to find a training program that would be the most efficient in improving this synthesis.

RELATED: Go Anaerobic: What It Is and Why to Do It 

In the early 1990s, he collaborated with Irisawa Koichi, the Japanese speed skating team coach who had developed a protocol of short maximum bursts of sprints followed by short periods of rest. The program seemed to maintain and improve peak performance in elite speed skating athletes, so Tabata wanted to test the protocol with athletes at different levels.

A 4-Minute Protocol with Maximal Effort

The initial Tabata Workout paper from 1996 examined two groups of amateur athletic males in their mid twenties:

1. The first group pedaled on an ergometer for sixty minutes at moderate intensity (70% of VO2 max). Similar to a long jogging session.
2. The second group pedaled for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest, for 4 minutes (completing 7 to 8 sets total) at maximal effort. The key phrase is maximal effort, as each interval was expected to be a sprint. If athletes could not keep up the speed requirements, they were stopped at 7 sets.

Both groups worked out for 5 days a week for a grand total of 5 hours a week or 20 minutes. The protocol lasted for 6 weeks.

In the above figure, the graph on the right shows a measure of anaerobic process. As expected, the Tabata-style sprinting group improved their performance while the long-duration group did not. It makes sense given that the sprints use a lot more anaerobic processes and you could imagine these becoming more efficient with sprint training.

RELATED: Sprint Intervals Increase Power, Aerobic and Anaerobic Performance

The graph on the left shows the results of oxygen uptake, which is a measure of how efficient people are at aerobic activities (the more oxygen we can take in, the more efficient our aerobic processes will be). Both groups improved on this measure in similar fashions (the red line shows the Tabata-style maximal-effort group). This result was expected for the long-duration group as they were specifically training for this goal. The result for the group doing sprints was surprising in that they improved in a similar fashion.

Thus, it seems that a four-minute maximal intensity Tabata workout had the same aerobic benefits as doing a sixty-minute moderate intensity workout. This news was pretty shocking in that you could get two-in-one benefits from only a four-minute workout.

“Things Are Going So Well, Help Me Screw It Up”

Although the above quotation from Dan John was not aimed at Tabata-style workouts, it does summarize much of what has happened. Since the protocol worked so well, maybe adding different exercises would be a good idea, right? If four minutes was good, maybe twenty minutes would be even better? That is exactly what a “study” sponsored by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) tried to determine.

No research is perfect and there is usually good and bad with every study. However, the web article titled Is Tabata all it’s cracked up to be? is not what I would call research. It’s basically a list of a bunch of exercises that participants completed for twenty minutes in a :20 on/:10 off protocol. The “researchers” found that this increased heart rate and other similar outcomes in the one-session study (we could have probably guessed that people working out for twenty minutes would have increased heart rate).

“Since the protocol worked so well, maybe adding different exercises would be a good idea, right? If four minutes was good, maybe twenty minutes would be even better?”

I would not mention such an article except that I found it cited by many sources as research on how to do a Tabata-style workout. It was “published” on the ACE website and seems to be geared for ACE-certified personal trainers. This workout might be good for people and it might have benefits, but putting the name Tabata on it is a great injustice to the original work.

VO2 Max Testing

Similarly I have seen other articles (even an overall good article written here on Breaking Muscle) that recommend exercises such as calf raises and bicep curls as being suitable for a Tabata workout. A person might feel a great burn and be sore from such a workout, but I wouldn’t imagine he or she would experience the same cardiovascular effects found in the original studies.

RELATED: The Tabata Revolution Explained: What, Why, and How to Tabata

Maximal-effort sprint-like activities are a key component for Tabata workouts. Intensity, not duration, is the key ingredient. A person should not be able to go for more than four minutes doing maximal effort.

From Tabatas to Burgomasters and Gabalas?

Kirsten Burgomaster and Martin Gibala have done research on slightly different maximal effort protocols and have found similar results compared to traditional endurance training work. The big difference in their protocols is that they allow for longer rest (often 30-second maximal effort sprints, followed by 4 minutes of rest, with 4 to 7 sets – and only three sessions per week).

Similar to Tabata’s original research, Burgomaster and Gibala have found benefits to aerobic and anaerobic systems. Others have found benefits in fat loss (see here for a good review article). People might also prefer the additional rest in these types of workouts, as well as the lower frequency of training sessions. Four minutes of rest allows for more time for our ATP-PC system to recover and may provide better performance on the maximal effort attempts.

“Four minutes of rest allows for more time for our ATP-PC system to recover and may provide better performance on the maximal effort attempts.”

Are Tabata-Style Programs for Everyone?

Many training programs are built for specific levels of athletes. However, Tabata-style programs have been tested in all different levels of athletes and have been shown to increase performance outcomes in these different groups.

As mentioned above, the original Tabata protocol was created by the Japanese speed skating coach to improve elite athletes’ performance. Similarly, Matthew Driller and colleagues found the protocol improved 2,000-meter rowing time in elite rowers. Anything that improves elite athlete’s performance is pretty impressive, as it is much more difficult to make gains in these groups.

Conversely, a protocol with less relative intensity and lower volume was created for sedentary individuals. They found improvements in insulin sensitivity in addition to similar outcomes in other studies. Thus, the whole spectrum of athletes seems to benefit from this type of protocol.

Keys to Tabata Success

• Sedentary and beginning athletes might want to take a bit more time to warm up and do the workouts with slightly less intensity as an on-ramp to completing a full Tabata protocol. Furthermore, pick exercises with less risk of injury. For example, an exercise bike is probably safer for a sedentary athlete than sprinting. Many people recommend treadmills, but they are slow to speed up and down and might not be the best suited for this training. A rower or swimming is probably a better alternative.
• Intensity is key. The goal is to practice the exercises with maximal intensity for a short duration of time. Don’t worry about your feelings of guilt for not working out longer. Doing more than the specified four to eight sets will not help you in the long run.
• Volume varies depending on goals. If your goal is maximal strength, then doing a Tabata-style workout one to two times a week might be beneficial. If your goal is to build greater endurance, then following the full Tabata-style workout five days a week will be most beneficial.

• Separate strength from conditioning. Do not think of the Tabata or other maximal effort protocols as a way to build strength. Max effort push ups or pull ups might be fun to try every once in a while, but there are more efficient ways to build strength. Your conditioning will be better off if you stick to exercises where you can perform maximal effort type of sprints.
• Optimal exercises might be: bicycling, rowing, swimming, hill sprints, stair sprints, jumping rope, sled push, and sprinting. It becomes a bit more of a gray area on whether kettlebell swings, box jumps, burpees, and other similar exercises are optimal (Maybe a bit easier to rest between reps of the movement; the key is to be able to throw maximal effort into the movement).

RELATED: Tabata Intervals: An Effective Protocol For Cyclists and Endurance Athletes 

Further Reading

• Simon Kidd ’s excellent article on how to do a cycling Tabata program.
• I like Logan Christopher’s article on why you don’t need to do conditioning, even though I think some of his workouts are conditioning-style based on these protocols.

References:

1. Boutcher, S. H. (2010). “High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise and Fat Loss.” Journal of Obesity, 2011, e868305. doi:10.1155/2011/868305

2. Burgomaster, K. A., Heigenhauser, G. J., & Gibala, M. J. (2006). “Effect of short-term sprint interval training on human skeletal muscle carbohydrate metabolism during exercise and time-trial performance.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 100 (6), 2041–2047.

3. Burgomaster, K. A., Howarth, K. R., Phillips, S. M., Rakobowchuk, M., MacDonald, M. J., McGee, S. L., & Gibala, M. J. (2008). “Similar metabolic adaptations during exercise after low volume sprint interval and traditional endurance training in humans.” The Journal of Physiology, 586(1), 151–160.

4. Driller, M. W., Fell, J. W., Gregory, J. R., Shing, C. M., & Williams, A. D. (2009). “The effects of high-intensity interval training in well-trained rowers.” International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 4(1), 110–121.

5. Gibala, M. J., Little, J. P., Van Essen, M., Wilkin, G. P., Burgomaster, K. A., Safdar, A., … Tarnopolsky, M. A. (2006). “Short-term sprint interval versus traditional endurance training: similar initial adaptations in human skeletal muscle and exercise performance.” The Journal of Physiology, 575(3), 901–911.

6. Hood, M. S., Little, J. P., Tarnopolsky, M. A., Myslik, F., & Gibala, M. J. (2011). “Low-Volume Interval Training Improves Muscle Oxidative Capacity in Sedentary Adults.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(10), 1849–1856. doi:10.1249/MSS.0b013e3182199834

7. Medbo, J. I., & Tabata, I. (1989). “Relative importance of aerobic and anaerobic energy release during short-lasting exhausting bicycle exercise.” Journal of Applied Physiology, 67(5), 1881–1886.

8. Tabata, I., Irisawa, K., Kouzaki, M., Nishimura, K., Ogita, F., & Miyachi, M. (1997). “Metabolic profile of high intensity intermittent exercises.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 29(3), 390–395.

9. Tabata, I., Nishimura, K., Kouzaki, M., Hirai, Y., Ogita, F., Miyachi, M., & Yamamoto, K. (1996). “Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 28(10), 1327–1330.

Photo 1 courtesy of Shutterstock.

Photo 2 “Striving for the best” by Fort Carson Atribution 2.0 Generic License

Photo 3 courtesy of Jorge Huerta Photography.

The post How Tabata Really Works: What the Research Says appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In 1994, Izumi Tabata reported on training experiments that used this protocol on a cycle ergometer. Over a six-week period, his athletes underwent one of the following:

1. Moderate intensity endurance training at 70% of VO2 max for sixty minutes, five days per week.
2. Intermittent training intervals at 170% of VO2 max for 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest, repeated for seven to eight sets, five days per week.

The endurance-training group showed increased VO2 max from 53 ml/kg/min to 58 ml/kg/min – a rise of 5 ml/kg/min or 10%. The endurance training made no significant difference to anaerobic capacity, which would be important in short bursts of activity (as you might expect given that this mode of training did not stress anaerobic energy production). The interval training increased VO2 max by 7 ml/kg/min, slightly more than the endurance protocol, and also increased anaerobic capacity by 28%.

For each participant in the study a linear relationship between power and oxygen demand had been established, so this means that the above percentages can be used to approximate power gains, too. Breathing more oxygen might be interesting, but it’s of little use unless it can be converted into useful work.

It is not necessary to go to the expense of having a full VO2 max test to work out the levels of effort required to undertake this type of intermittent training. An approximation to the power output at VO2 max can be established by a simpler functional threshold power (FTP) test. The FTP test estimates the average power that could be sustained over sixty minutes. A typical way to do this test is to use a power meter on a turbo trainer and work flat out over twenty minutes. You record the average power and multiply this by 0.95 to estimate the power for sixty minutes. (Or you can, of course, do the test for sixty minutes – if you can do that!) The intensity for the Tabata-type intervals can then be established by taking this FTP figure and multiplying it by 1.7.

If you have a power meter or turbo trainer that can measure or estimate power you are all set. As this is a high-intensity exercise regime, you do need to make sure that it is suitable for you and that your bike and turbo are securely set up. A gym towel falling in the spokes during a twenty-second high intensity interval will certainly spoil your day.

Based upon this study, an exercise program would by comprised of:

1. Warm up for ten minutes.
2. Perform seven or more sets of intervals of 20secs (at 170% FTP) and 10secs rest.
3. Cool down.

Perform this five days per week. On the sixth day, perform thirty minutes at 70% and then do four Tabata-style intervals. Rest on the seventh day. Repeat for six weeks.

If you measure your FTP before and after this program, you should see some useful gains. So, if you are emerging from your winter training and wish to put in some finishing touches before some early events or have only just started to think about training for the year ahead, this might be a simple and effective protocol for you.

References:

1. Tabata, Izumi et al., “Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO2max.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Issue: Volume 28(10), October 1996, pp 1327-1330.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Tabata Intervals: A Simple and Effective Protocol For Cyclists and Endurance Athletes appeared first on Breaking Muscle.