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One of the most popular interval workouts among Strength Coaches, Personal Trainers and Exercise Enthusiasts is the Tabata Interval Workout.
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If you’ve never heard of the Tabata Protocol? It’s a high intensity interval training method originally created by Japanese researcher Izumi Tabata. Put simply, the Tabata Protocol is one the best cardio / metabolic conditioning workouts every discovered because its simple to understand and easy to apply.
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“The rate of increase in V02max is one of the highest ever reported.” – Izumi Tabata, Japan .
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With only 8 minutes (give or take) 2-3 times per week, you can turn your body into a fat-burning machine that will outlast all comers!
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The original Tabata Protocol consists the following:
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5 minutes of warm-up
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8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest
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2 minutes cool-down
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Now, you will need to gradually build up your ability to successfully complete the full Tababa without loosing intensity, overtraining or puking every workout . Therefore, I never start athletes out from day one doing the Tabata Protocol the way it is typically described above.
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Many folks don’t realize it but, If you research the Tabata Protocol online, the original study conducted at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan used highly-trained endurance athletes in peak physical condition.
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Now, because most folks are not highly-trained endurance athletes, it’s important to utilize a progressive approach to increasing fitness level and work capacity to accommodate this workout. This is especially important when training power based athletes or working simply to improve overall fitness.
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So, to help you train smarter, harder and safer, In this post, I’m going to provide you with a 12 week progression for using the Tabata Interval protocol.
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In the chart below, you will see figures that look like this – 10/20 x6.
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The first number listed is the work (exercise) interval in seconds (ex: 10 =10 seconds). The second number listed is the rest interval in seconds (ex: 20 = 20 seconds). The last figure represents the number of rounds you will perform of the given interval (ex: x6 = perform 6 rounds).
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Put simply – 10/20 x6 = 10 seconds work / 20 seconds rest x6 rounds
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Okay, now that you understand how read the chart below. Here is my 12 week Tabata interval workout Progression.
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12 Week Tabata Workout Progression
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| wk.1 | 10/20 x6 |
| wk.2 | 10/20 x7 |
| wk.3 | 10/20 x8 |
| wk.4 | 15/15 x5 |
| wk.5 | 15/15 x6 |
| wk.6 | 15/15 x7 |
| wk.7 | 15/15 x8 |
| wk.8 | 20/10 x4 |
| wk.9 | 20/10 x5 |
| wk.10 | 20/10 x6 |
| wk.11 | 20/10 x7 |
| wk.12 | 20/10 x8 |
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Keep your eye on the Blog because very soon, I’m going to provide you with another Tabata progression. This will be a shorter, 8 week progression used for fitter more well conditioned athletes. STAY TUNED!!!
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Nick,
How often should Tabatas be performed during the week?
Excellent, just what I needed. Although here in the midwest, snow shoveling could be added as an exercise for this right now….that and pushing cars.
Thanks, can’t want to put this to practice.
Nick:
Assuming an exercise bike was the used for the Tabatas, does your version advocate active rest (i.e. 20s of slow peddling)?
How do you measure all-out intensity, perceived or based on HR?
Best regards,
Brian
The euqipment available to me for intervals is all techngym – cross trainer and bikes (med and recline versions). Which is the best option please? Thanks
Hi Nick, great post. Just wondering what your thoughts are with regards to exercise selection, especially if we’re talking about more unconditioned people (i.e. people fairly new to exercise in general).
I know the normal tabata recommendations are front squats or thrusters, but many overweight individuals lack the mobility to perform these movements with a decent ROM. Is the tabata simply a bad choice for these people, until they’ve lost enough weight/gained mobility?
Cheers
Hi Nick,
Great info. I look forward to your blog every week. My question is how many Tabata exercises would you perform in one workout? Or, how many total interval sets (using different exercises would you do in say, an hour session?
Thanks,
Nicole
Nice way to progress to the full Tabata prescription. Never seen it done this way. I usually start clients right out at 20/10 x 8 and just evaluate their rep output.
Still a good way to track their progress, but this may be a nice mod for deconditioned individuals.
Great question!
I will use up to 4 different Tabata intervals in a single workout.
Coach N
Great question!
You can use just about any exercise as a Tabata. Strength exercises, bike, body weight, Med Ball, etc;
So, no, I don’t think Tabata is a bad idea. There are no bad exercises, just bad applications.
Use your common sense and I’m sure will find the right application for each person.
Coach N
I would use bodyweight exercises like Burpees, squat, lunges, push ups, mountain climbers, skips, sprints, etc; to do your tabatas over those machines.
Coach N
You can use “active rest” if the athlete is fit enough. But, be sure its done at low intensity. On most bikes, you can watch the RPM level on each interval. I always ask for the same # of RPMs each working set to ensure maximal intensity.
Coach N
Great question!
I use Tabatas no more than 3x per week. Usually 2x per week for most folks.
Coach N
Ditch the treadmills, bikes and other cardio machines and grab a jump rope, mountain climbers, sprint in place, even jumping jacks could be used for the beginner. These types are easier to control the work and rest times than messing around with the settings on the machines.
When you say you use up to 4 different Tabata intervals in a single workout, am I right in thinking that you might do something like 10/20 x 6 on Air Dyne and then later in the workout 10/20 x 6 on Burpees if you were in a Week 1 Tabata Phase?
Also, do you tend to group them together at the end of the workout after strength training? Thanks, Jason
Nick, awesome stuff! Just started doing the tabatas on the rowing machine following the 12 week progression. I also do 20 mins on a bike – 1 min @ 90 – 100 percent (good resistance level and keeping the rpm’s high) than 1 min rest(30-40%), then out to do 20 x 100 meter sprints in 20 minutes with 10 burpees at end of each sprint. After the first two weeks the tabatas increased my fitness a great deal!!
Why would one do an 8 week tabata program rather than the 12 week. Should one be doing some tabata all the time to increase performance or maintain a certain level? The twelve week program would seem to allow longer to get to one’s target.
Good question!
It depends on your fitness level. Fitter folks can usually use the shorter, 8-week progression. It also depends the difficulty of the Tabata intervals you are using. The more difficult the exercises, the longer the progression.
Best regards!
Coach N