Got four minutes? This high-intensity workout might work for you
Written on October 23, 2011 by Jade Haigh
Tabata Interval Training Watch video
There’s no shortage of excuses for dodging regular exercise, and the “I don’t have time,” excuse is likely at the top of most lists.
Enter the Tabata Protocol. It’s an intense and efficient workout program that, not counting a brief warm up before and a cool down after, takes only four minutes to complete. But it’s not for everyone, especially — literally — the faint of heart.
In the 1990s, Dr. Izumi Tabata, a researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports, studied an intense interval training program developed by the Japanese speed-skating team head coach, to determine its effect on Olympic athletes. The program called for a 20-second full-speed sprint followed by a 10-second rest. The athletes repeated the sprint/rest intervals as many times as they could — usually six or seven times in a row. With each repetition, the already fit athletes found the intervals increasingly grueling. However, they improved their maximum aerobic capacity by 14 percent and their anaerobic capacity by 28 percent. The protocol also raised the athlete’s metabolic rate, allowing them to continue burning calories long after their workout ended.
The fitness world took notice and in the years since, athletes and personal trainers have been experimenting with and incorporating what they now refer to at “Tabatas” into their training routines.
Another appealing feature is that Tabatas can be done in a gym or at home, using any number of exercises including running, biking, rowing, push ups, pull ups or using light weights, to name a few. But before you buy a good stop watch or timer and start doing Tabatas, keep two caveats in mind – check with your doctor first and start slow.
“This is just accelerated interval training,” said cardiologist Dr. Ronald Caputo of St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center. “Patients with heart disease, risk factors for heart disease or recent chest pain should see a doctor before starting this.”
Bloggers writing about Tabata intervals joke about upchucking and “seeing the light” during the high intensity workout — so warming up and slowly working your way up to doing four, then six, then eight intervals is important.
Michael Elliott, of Jamesville, a personal trainer at Fitness Forum in Fayetteville for six years, uses Tabata himself and recommends it for his clients. Elliott likes that the program works well for most people because everyone’s capacity is different.
“The idea during that 20 seconds of work is you’re doing as much as you can,” Elliot said, “so even if a person is just starting out and they’re not physically fit, they might only be able to do five pushups in that 20 seconds, whereas a physically fit person might do 15. You work at your own intensity level, then you get 10 seconds of recovery.”
Elliott has his clients do a full warm up — about 10 to 15 minutes of squats, jumping jacks, floor exercises — depending on the client. Afterward, they cool down with five to 10 minutes of mobility or flexibility work.
“You should be able to get in, do a full warm up, get your workout in and get out, all within a half-hour,” Elliott said. “And you’re learning how to push yourself a little bit harder.
Maggie Triolo, of Liverpool, a personal trainer and health and wellness supervisor at the North Area Family YMCA in Liverpool, uses Tabatas with her individual clients and in her 10-week “Ultimate Sculpt” class. Triolo said she read about Tabata and decided to try it with her clients because she likes to keep their bodies guessing what’s coming next.
The Ultimate Sculpt group — 12 women who Triolo classifies as intermediate to advanced exercisers — work out together twice a week.
“They form an incredible bond,” Triolo said. “I have women who started out three years ago, who couldn’t run and had no self confidence, who now are running marathons, who are triathletes. They’ve just gone through this evolution together, helping to push each other. One, in particular, who has lost about 30 pounds, had really low self confidence in the beginning, was non-competitive, depressed. She’s been transformed — so happy and positive. She gives it her all.”
Triolo measures the women and gives them a fitness test at the beginning of the 10 weeks and again at the end.
“I’m big on taking measurements, not just looking at the number on the scale,” Triolo said. “You burn a lot of calories, and for a lot of my clients who are looking for weight loss, I’ve just seen great results with it. And it’s fun, like a mental game. They’ll say, “20 seconds? I can do this for 20 seconds.’ I feel like they really push through that.”
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