** This thread discusses the content article: What the Devil is a Tabata? **

Before I started doing CrossFit in 2007, I was blissfully unaware of the term "tabata," but now it's part of my everyday vocabulary. Lucky me.

The Tabata Protocol consists of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. The cycle is repeated eight times for a total of four minutes of work. It's named after Izumi Tabata, Ph.D., a former researcher at Japan's National Institute of Fitness and Sports.

According the man himself,

"[Six to 8 very hard 20 second intervals with 10 second rest periods] may be one of the best possible training protocols..."-- Izumi Tabata, Ph.D.

This Men's Fitness article -- "The secret of Tabata: this 14-minute workout may be the best you've ever had!" -- gets into a some of the science.

"The key to the Tabata Protocol's effectiveness appears to be the short rest intervals between sprints. Conventional interval-training guidelines suggest keeping a 1:3 work-rest ratio. That is, your rest periods should last three times as long as the duration of your sprints. But the Tabata Protocol's work-rest ratio is 2:1, which means your rest periods are only half as long as the time you're working."

Want to try a tabata workout for yourself? Give the classic CrossFit "Tabata Something Else" a shot... and good luck to you!

Tabata Something Else
8 X [20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest] for each exercise.
There is no rest between exercises.
pull-ups
push-ups
sit-ups
squats


Melissa Joulwan is one of our newest members, and also the blogger behind The Clothes Make the Girl.

Great article!

This is the first time I've heard of the Tabata Protocol (although I've been doing interval training before I knew what interval training is) and it looks like I'm going to have to try it!

Tabata's a killer because you think "Twenty seconds... how bad could that be?" The first three rounds or so are great, and then you have to really start baring down because rounds 4, 5, 6 start to get you... and then there are still two rounds left. It's pretty badass.

For "scoring," only the lowest number counts, so if you do squats and score like this:
22 - 21 - 20 - 20 - 20 - 20 - 19 - 18

Your score would be 18, even though on that first round you busted out 22. Nasty stuff.

But awesome.

Sounds like an intense workout, I'll definetly check it out, perhaps even later today.

I'll switch out the regular running interval training, and see how it goes.

I love the Tabata Protocol, and hate it at the same time. Nothing will flood your muscles with lactic acid like those 4 minutes, and every time I have to crouch and stretch to regain use of my thighs. I've yet to actually finish all 4 minutes, usually running out of gas by the time I hit the second minute, but it's a goal.

Also, I've heard that it's not a good idea to use it for lifting weights, but rather should be employed solely as a form of cardio (sprinting, cycling, etc). Interesting to see you recommend a number of calisthenics to go with the Protocol...

I need some clarification.

Is the Tabata series something like this:

as many pull ups as possible in 20s,
rest 10s
as many pull ups as possible in 20s,
rest 10s,
... for 8 20/10 cycle repetitions?

Or is it

as many pull ups as possible in 20s,
rest 10s,
as many push ups as possible in 20s,
rest 10s,
as many squats as possible in 20s,
rest 10s,
as many sit ups as possible in 20s,
rest 10s,
then repeat the four-exercise sequence again 7 more times.

I'm thinking you meant the former, but you provided a list of four different exercises so I wasn't sure if the idea was to cycle through all four or to pick one and cycle 8x through that one.

Thanks!