If there is one thing that drives me nuts is the misuse of a term, methodology, or even piece of equipment. Why does this have such a strong impact on me? I feel as though people are often misled and in this day and age it is way to easy to be falling for false experts and misrepresentation.

What the heck am I talking about? Well, I can not STAND this misuse and application of the Tabata protocols. For those that are unfamiliar, the Tabata protocol came about after the work of a Japanese researcher Tabata. The researcher took Olympic level athletes and had them perform 4 minutes of alternating 20 seconds of all out work followed by 10 seconds of rest. The results were staggering showing that the group that followed this protocol significantly improved both their anaerobic and aerobic tolerance more than any other testing group.

Pretty amazing as typically anaerobic and aerobic training are thought to be very different pathways that require specific training and secondly it was done in all of four minutes!!!

So, what is my problem? Well, people are completely misreading the study and the application of the Tabata method is just flat out wrong!!!!

One of the first keys to actually achieving the Tabata results is to find an activity that has continuos motion. YES, continuos!!! That means kettlebell swings, hops, front squats, and most sandbag exercises do not fit the qualifications. Even though the rest period during these movements is brief it is enough to make me think it just won’t work!

Now before a million people write in yelling at me about “they did it and it is hard!!” I am not arguing using these movements in this manner would not be difficult, but if we are trying to replicate the Tabata results then we have to find exercises that would match well to the cycling that was performed in the study.

What fits? Airdynes, jump rope, sprinting, all seem like viable options as there is continuous movement with all of these, no rest period!

Ok, what is part two of my argument? How about the fact that the study had these Olympic athletes performing this protocol 5 DAYS A WEEK!!!! How does that measure up to doing it 1, 2, or even 3 times a week? The truth is we don’t know because other frequencies were not measured. So, if you want to again, try to replicate the results then try doing Tabata’s 5 days a week!!!

How about this, the athletes were also working at “intensity of about 170% of VO2max” that means to the absolute max. Not kinda hard, pretty hard, it means with nothing left to give! You couldn’t possibly being performing Tabata correctly and then go train like many are claiming.

Lastly, Tabata didn’t measure against other forms of interval training with varying intensities or durations. The control group was performing steady state “moderate” level of training. So, in the end it is hard to figure out if Tabata is really superior to other forms of interval training. The idea of working for 4 minutes may sound great, but you would have to combine that with the amount of stress on the body this takes. If you were to do it right it is a SEVERELY intense routine that would seem exhausting mentally as well as physically.

If you like intervals, definitely try the Tabata protocols, however, if you are looking for the magic pill in 4 minutes once or twice a week you might be disappointed!

====>Keep on the watch for all our great High Octane Intervals

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