Tabata Training: Is Tabata Training the Ultimate Cardio Workout?

Tabata Training: Can 4 Minutes Of Exercise Be Enough For Weight Loss?

The basis of Tabata Training is 4 minutes of intense interval training. What you are doing is taking an exercise we’ll use sprints as an example here.

Sprint as hard as you can for 20 seconds

Walk for 10 seconds

Repeat 7 more times for a total of 8 sets.

So what you have is a total of 4 minutes workout time.

Tabata Training can be done with a number of different exercises the idea is to use an exercise that gets the whole body involved or at least the major muscle groups.Tabata Training can be done with Barbells, Dumbells, Kettlebells or just Bodyweight exercises. I’ll give you some other exercises and routines to try in a minute but first let me give you some background and how Tabatas work.

Tabata Training was developed by Izumi Tabata (imagine that) at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan. They did a study on comparing the effects of moderate intensity endurance(aerobics) and high endurance intermittent training(tabata training intervals) on VO2 max and anerobic capacity.

To cut to the results of the study: the moderate intensity group training program produced a significant increase in VO2 max of about 10%, but had no effect on anaerobic capacity. The high intensity group improved their VO2 max by about 14% while anaerobic capacity improved by 28%. The study was done over a six week period. Both groups working out 5 days per week.
http://www.squidoo.com/tabatatraining
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSCxAiM0P8

http://healthhabits.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/wa…

Yes, Pretty, in Japan we all do that to avoid the “waistline tax”.

Professor Tabata is not known in Japan as the guy that says “You only need to train 4 minutes a day”, he is doing the contrary.
For instance, see him on page 4 :
http://www.kao.co.jp/rd/healthcare/activity/pdf…

It’s an interview, and that’s the kind of things he and his colleagues say all the time here :
(disclaimer Japanese and English are both foreign languages for me, so I can’t provide you a pro-level translation. Just a summary.)

Professor Tabata says he is researching about prevention of “lifestyle illnesses”, and in the Japanese context, they are essentially “lack of daily activity and exercise illnesses”. Many people are too sedentary and not aware of it.

He quotes American studies (he took part to) showing people exercising 1, 2 to 4, 5 times a week could lower occurence of diabetis of 27, 38, 42%.
So that’s the 5 times a week that everybody should do to stay healthy.

Then he explains that in fact, people are doing less exercise than in the past. And many think it’s OK, to exercise, more or less, once a week, and they believe they are active enough.
So he is part of a big campaign of research and education (on our tax money) that aims to convince people to exercise much more.

He counts activity in a unit called “METs hour per week” (I don’t know the exact English)
4 METs hour per week is doing 35 minutes of running or tennis.
4 METs hour per week is what the average Joe (the average Taro) considers enough, and what he thinks he is doing with sport once a week. In fact, they measured that Taro only does the equivalent of 2 METs hour per week.

Pr. Tabata thinks that to stay healthy people should do :
10 METs hour per week of sports
And in total :
23 METs hour per week of sports + daily activity (walking 10 000 steps a day if your job is sedentary is the minimum).

So his groups of research designed a number of program to make all types of people reach that level of exercise. There are short programs that were made for busy office working people, so they do them everyday during their lunch break.

He concludes that it doesn’t matter if you do your sport low or high intensity, 1 or 3 times a week or a little everyday, you have to do according your possibilities and lifestyle. The only important thing is you do ENOUGH and so far, most people don’t.

He doesn’t say 4 minutes of Tabata training replaces the 23 METs hour per week.
My understanding is Taro the beer belly salaryman is supposed to do his Tabata 5 times a week at lunch time, in addition to his Saturday morning easy jogging and Sunday baseball with kids (kids playing, Dads shouting) and to his daily 10 000 steps (to walk on the way to work or, if Taro wants to drive and take elevators/escalators all the time, to replace by one hour of treadmill after/before work).

And that’s probably valid for anybody in other countries too, even if your own problem is not risk of diabetis .

For those that wonder, the waistline tax is a real law project in Japan. Companies will have a sur-tax in what they pay for health contribution if they have a certain % of employees considered to have metabolic syndrome at the yearly medical check-up.

@ cccc great summary. What I have noticed, Tabata training with Kettlebells are catching on with a lot of the US trainers.

Kettlebell training and Tabata training in the same workout?

Get ready to take your workouts to a new level. A total body workout for gaining lean muscle, lose that excess body fat and take your cardio conditioning to the highest level.

What is a Kettlebell?

Picture a bowling ball with a handle on it. Kettlebell training when done right may be the most effective training system we have. Short but intense workouts a kettlebell workout of 2 exercises and a total workout time of 10-15 minutes can give you an intense and effective total body workout.

• What is the Tabata Training method?*

Tabata training is one of the most brutal training techniques out there. It consists of performing an exercise for 20 seconds straight, followed by 10 seconds rest. This is repeated for another 7 times, or 8 total rounds for a total of 4 minutes of extreme training.

You can perform Tabata with cardio, bodyweight, weight training or kettlebell training. Done with Kettlebell training, it completely changes your idea of an intense total body workout.

Kettlebell training is tough, but when you combine them with a high intensity technique such as Tabata training, you can create an intense, total body workout.

• A Lower Body Kettlebell Training and Tabata Training Workout*

Kettlebell Swing – uses your hamstrings, firms your butt, strengthens your lower back and great for cardio and fat loss. The kettlebell swing has been called by some the single best exercise there is. It really is a total body workout in itself.

Kettlebell Front Squat – works your thighs strengthening and toning, your abs and your butt.
Thats it. You’ll only need two exercises to completely destroy your legs. And really you can consider this a total body workout. The key to developing a proper Kettlebell training Lower Body Tabata training workout is to combine one hamstring dominant exercise with a quadricep dominant exercise.

Additional Kettlebell exercises for your Hamstrings:
Kettlebell Swing
Kettlebell Clean
Kettlebell Snatch

Kettlebell Training Thigh Exercises
Kettlebell Front Squat
Kettlebell Overhead Squat
Kettlebell Clean and Front Squat

Kettlebell training – Kettlebell Clean + Front Squat is another great kettlebell exercise that can be a total body workout all in itself.

Kettlebell Snatch + Overhead Squat.

Don’t just stop there. Use the same techniques to train your upper body. Here’s a bonus Upper Body Tabata training workout Using Kettlebell training for again what is really a total body workout.

Complete 8 Tabata Training Intervals for each exercise:
Kettlebell Push Press
Kettlebell Bent Over Row

http://kettlebellfitnesssystems.blogspot.com/

Hi is anyone still doing tabata intervals? i started them about a month ago. I do tabatas at home with burbees and goblet squat as the main exercise. I made timer to help me with the timing. Check it out at http://tabatatimer.blogspot.com/

Hi

I created an android mobileversion of the timer. All the values are customisable so you can use it for anykind of interval training. It is located at the android market:

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.tabat…

I also made a pro-version that has a lot more features it is located at :

https://market.android.com/details?id=org.tabat…

Track your Fitness & Nutrition on Fitmingle

www.fitmingle.com

Sofy Williams

I’ve been a lurker for awhile now but I am loyal to these boards. Sofy I think you’re spamming these boards with your promotion.

These are some great post that make a lot of sense. Tabata training is a great workout, if its used in conjunction with other moverments and exercises. If you just do Tabata’s for 3 months, you probably wont see the same results as say crossfit.

Check out Bicep Workouts or Crossfit Magnolia
for more information on training with differing veiwpoints

4 minutes a day to loose weight? ;) Calories people! its all about caloric intake. Simple math is caloric deficit = weight loss, caloric surplus = weight gain. Simple! The only TRUE Exercise that counts here is what we choose shove into our mouths. Count your calories and keep them under control and watch the weight come off! Exercise to have a stronger body, dieting is for loosing weight.