The Tabata Instruction Protocol

People are busier than ever these days and often that means that unfortunately exercise can and does often fall down the pecking order. However that need not be the case with the time efficiency and effectiveness that high intensity interval training (HIIT) can provide. But perhaps due to the modern day mantra that more is better and the prevalence of all or nothing thinking, people hold themselves back from exercising and overlook the fact that even a small amount of exercise is better than none and that short bouts of exercise done with enough intensity can be more effective than longer bouts of lower intensity exercise.

The good news for time crushed clients looking to increase levels of health and fitness is that more fitness professionals are realising the benefits of going hard and short rather than slow and long thus enabling their clients to get better results in less time. It might be paradoxical and counter intuitive to many people but we can´t argue with the science that shows how effective HIIT is. Perhaps the most well known study that demonstrates the effectiveness of this type of training was Izumi Tabata´s 1996 study where at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Japan he took subjects and divided them into two groups, one group performed moderate intensity exercise at 70% VO2 max for 60 minutes five days per week. The other group performed HIIT using Izumi Tabata´s IE1 protocol consisting of bouts of 20 seconds at 170% VO2 max with 10 seconds of recovery repeated for 8 rounds totaling 4 minutes, the group did this four days per week plus one combination session with moderate intensity session at 70% VO2 max for 30 minutes followed by the IE1 4 minute protocol. The mode of exercise was a braked stationary cycle and the study ran for 6 weeks. To cut a long story short, the group who performed the HIIT Tabata IE1 protocol had better improvements in both their VO2 max and their anaerobic capacity probably due to the intense demands the sessions placed upon both systems. To put it plainly, 60 minutes of exercise per week achieved better results than 300 minutes. But before we get carried away we must consider that working at 170% VO2 max on a stationary bike such as the ones used in the study is near enough impossible for most of us if we consider that most of us would probably be well on the way to vomiting at 100% VO2 max. To put it into perspective, tour de france cyclists are kicking out 400 watts continuously for an hour or so, and 170% VO2 max would require an equivalent effort of around 500+ watts. So the reality is when we say we´re doing Tabata training, we are not getting anywhere near the intensity as per the original study.

Even so we must look at the benefits; short workouts which are simple to follow and therefore more likely to be completed than long duration cardio and complex intervals. To the purists out there we´re not really doing “proper” Tabata workouts but who really cares if we are moving more, having fun and incorporating the “Tabata style” as part of our workouts. So when we refer to Tabata training we are referring to a HIIT workout consisting of 8 rounds of 20 seconds of intense work with 10 seconds of rest. It doesn´t matter if we perform it with press ups and rows, squats, rowing, cycling, lunges or sprinting because it provides a quick and intense workout that will boost metabolism and improve fitness.

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