Did You Miss Out On The Very Effective Tabata Workout

You would have heard about innumerable workout styles. Each of them is destined to assist you to achieve your health and fitness goal.

a woman skipping rope

You may desire to enhance flexibility, build muscle, lose weight or whatever is your objective. Source.

Almost every exercise program can assist you to reach them until you follow the plan. If you are seeking for a new program to integrate into your routine, you can give a try to Tabata.

[pullquote]Tabata training is among the most well-known methods of high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Tabata comprises of exercises that persist for a few minutes. [/pullquote]

A brief history of Tabata

A Japanese scientist, Dr. Izumi Tabata along with his colleagues discovered the Tabata training. A research was conducted on two athletes group. One of these groups were trained at high-intensity level while the other at an ordinary intensity level.

The ordinary intensity group worked out for five days in one week for six weeks and each workout session persisted for an hour.

The high-intensity group worked out for four-minutes and 4 days in a week for a total of six weeks. The high-intensity group completed its work out of four minutes by undertaking eight all-out training intervals. And then taking a rest of 10 seconds!   

The experiment consequences concluded that the athletes who did high-intensity exercise increased their aerobic system (cardiovascular), but showed negligible improvement in an anaerobic system (muscle). These people enhanced their anaerobic structure by 28%. 

Therefore, it was concluded that high-intensity interval training is more influential on both the anaerobic and aerobic systems.

The Tabata training

Each training in a Tabata workout persists for four minutes only. But it would probably be among the utmost four minutes you have ever undergone.

The program’s structure is as given below:

  • Hard work out for 20 minutes.
  • 10 seconds rest
  • Finish 8 rounds

    You have to push yourself as hard as possible for 20 seconds. Thereafter, have to take a rest of 20 seconds. This is a single set. You have to end eight sets of each workout. Source.

You can perform any exercise you desire. You can practice burpees, pushups, squats or any other desirable exercise that actives your huge muscle group. Even Kettlebell exercise is also very effective.

Tabata Vs Interval Training

You would be thinking, what is the difference between HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) and Tabata? The major difference is between the timing.

In a Tabata exercise session, the rest and work time is shorter than that of HIIT. The reason is that the smaller the session, the more the intensity will be. Don’t forget, in the actual research the complete training was of 4 minutes.


Source: Manomics.com
In HIIT, applicants are targeting for just 80-95% of utmost heart rate. At the same time, the work-to-rest ratio linked with more traditional interval exercise program is generally 1 or 2 minutes of work ensued by half a minute to two minutes of recovery.

Why Tabata is highly effective?

Since the 20-10 strategy is challenging to both your anaerobic and aerobic capabilities, it consequences in a completely enhanced cardiovascular fitness capacity.

By taking rest of short periods by taking half the time of high influence intervals, your body is enforced to work out without complete recovery. Once you reach the second half of Tabata practice, your performance reaches the peak.

How to practice a Tabata workout?

  • Decide whether you are going to do cardio or lift. You can virtually convert any cardio exercise into a Tabata-style workout.
  • Perform a warmup of five to ten minutes (on a stationary bike).  An initial warmup will make your muscles loose and keep your blood flowing.
  • Do the initial set of your workout for 20 seconds.  Do as many reps as you can (8 reps are ideal).
  • Rest for 10 seconds. Ensure to use the right procedure, whether hitting the weights or running.
  • Repeat third and fourth step till four minutes. And you are done. In fact, you won’t be able to do any more.

If you are always running short of time and are a novice to the Tabata workout, this video might help:

Tabata is an effective short time workout as the intervals duration is short. With Tabata, you can burn greater calories. Try practice Tabata training at least for one time in a week to observe how your body reacts.

Garima Pachauri