The History of Tabata
Tabata training was discovered by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo.
Tabata and his team conducted research on two groups of athletes. The first group trained at a moderate intensity level while the second group trained at a high-intensity level. The moderate intensity group worked out five days a week for a total of six weeks; each workout lasted one hour. The high-intensity group worked out four days a week for six weeks; each workout lasted four minutes and 20 seconds (with 10 seconds of rest in between each set).
The results; Group 1 had increased their aerobic system (cardiovascular), but showed little or no results for their anaerobic system (muscle). Group 2 showed much more increase in their aerobic system than Group 1, and increased their anaerobic system by 28 percent.
In conclusion, high-intensity interval training has more impact on both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. (site)
Personal Experience
I personally really like tabata “stuff”. There is an ending work time and a guaranteed rest time, whats not to like? I program this a lot with my athletes to work on a variety of skills (mainly body weight ones). It can be used for all ages, goals and environments. I use it in warm ups as well as actual workouts. You can even do multiple tabatas making the workout eight minutes versus four. The list is endless, here are a few things (not limited to) that I like to use tabata on:
Double Under Practice: (1st 20sec of work) – single unders (2) Right Foot Single Jumps (3) Left Foot Single Jumps (4) Single Unders (5) Double Under Practice (6) Double Under Practice (7) Double Under Practice (8) Double Under Practice
Single Leg Balance Practice: Have the athlete alternate between Right and Left legs to practice standing on one foot without touch. You can also make it more difficult by changing the surface in which they stand (i.e. wood floors, mats, 1/2 bosu balls, etc)
Plank: This can make a static plank difficult. You can even alternate between side and rear planks as well.
Core: Alternate between regular sit ups and russian twist.
The Basics: Squats, Push Ups and Sit Ups are always great things to use tabata on…challenge do one tabata of each (12mins long), yikes!
American Swings: This can get spicy, especially if you don’t let your athlete put the bell down during those 10 seconds of rest.
Static Lunges: Alternate between Right and Left. Perform max static lunges on one side for 20 seconds then switch to the other. When just your body weight gets too easy, add weight.
Overhead Holds: Have Athlete alternate right and left arms holding a kettlebell/object overhead.
For my Coaches and Trainers, if you are looking to “score” your tabata, your score is considered the lowest number of reps completed in the 20 second interval. For example, if I was going to program tabata squats and someone completes the following reps during her 4mins : 20, 11, 12, 13, 11, 9, 10,13, Her score would be 9.
For more movements to use tabata with check out THIS post!
Technology
There are many tabata apps out there. HOWEVER most I have found/researched are super complicated and try to do “all the things”…so complicated you cannot even work one feature. And since my favorite timer app is no longer available for download, I found a FREE timer app that is super simple called Tabata Timer. This isn’t to be confused with the paid Timers Pro. I wasn’t able to find a link to the itunes page for you to download but if you go to the app store and put in tabata, you should find it. You can do everything from its one page.
