This week’s workout was put together at the very last minute. I had a pretty busy week, and when Wednesday afternoon rolled around, I still had not decided what I was going to try. Having limited time, I did some research online for very quick workout challenges. I was not disappointed when I stumbled across the Tabata protocol.
The Tabata protocol is a high intensity interval workout, meaning that it is characterized by short periods of high intensity training punctuated by even shorter periods of rest. The exact rundown of the Tabata protocol is twenty seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest, repeated eight times.
^A visualization of the time layout.
The protocol takes it’s name from Dr. Izumi Tabata, a Japanese sports scientist who is also the head coach of Japan’s national speed skating team. Tabata used the eight round scheme described earlier when training his athletes on a stationary bike. As a result, their V02 max increased significantly.
^The Doc himself.
Today, the Tabata protocol is very popular among fitness enthusiasts, and is commonly applied to different movements, such as weightlifting and calisthenics. One common use of the protocol involves switching between two movements, so that rather then doing eight rounds of one exercise, you do four rounds of two different ones. This week, I decided to do three different Tabatas, each consisting of two different exercises. As a testement to Tabata’s popularity, there is an entire playlist on Spotify that consist of Tabata songs, or four minute songs which have a narrator keeping time for you round by round over terrible music.
The workouts I put together were as follows; barbell power-cleans x push ups, dumbbell hang cleans to shoulder press x deadlifts, and shoulder thrusters x toes to bar. I went to the IM at about seven o clock to get it done. I set up my weights, scoffed at myself for coming up with such a dumb, self interested, time consuming blog topic and began.
The first full Tabata left me drenched in sweat, as power cleans are very difficult and energy consuming on there own. As one might imagine, doing them very quickly and intensely with another workout is nothing short of a torture method. The next two were mostly difficult on account of the fact that they were done after the first one!
I could not recommend Tabata more for people who want a very quick, very intense workout. I did four sets of six motions, and was out in well under a half hour. There is no doubt in my mind that I will revisit the protocol when working out in the future. Thank you, Dr. Tabata!
Wow that was very interesting. I am curious how people can do this for long periods of time. I would certainly be dead from exhaustion. I should probably try it so I could become an Olympic speed skater.
The Tabata sounds like an interesting exercise method. Having periods of total activity followed by total rest seems to be a very efficient way to completely exert muscles without leading to too much danger. I’m surprised that you were able to find music that was specifically for this kind of workout, although your description definitely makes it seems as though this music is hardly worth listening to, even during a workout like this. I can’t imagine trying to do anything difficult with bad music constantly distracting me.
I have done Tabata workouts before and I agree with their efficiency. Before starting, I was in disbelief that I could only workout for 20 minutes and still see the same results as a hour long moderately paced workout. While the duration makes it seem like a walk in the park, Tabata is extremely difficult mainly because if it’s intensity. However, for a busy college student, it is a workout worth looking into.
Tabata intervals workouts are definitely a go to workout for me. My friend introduced them to me about a year ago, there is an app that records your time and alternates intervals. I like how you started off the blog with a brief history of the Tabata workout itself did not know it started from a Japanese sports doctor!