Is tabata effective?

redraidergirl2009

So speaking from personal experience have you found tabata helpful to your fitness goals overall in comparison to steady longer cardio? Also how much do you do? And how?

KBjimAZ

I find high intensity intervals to be quite effective. I do kettlebell swings, 40 seconds on 20 seconds off for 15 minutes.

I also find the term "Tabata" to be extremely overused and misinterpreted.

MeanderingMammal

So speaking from personal experience have you found tabata helpful to your fitness goals overall in comparison to steady longer cardio? Also how much do you do? And how?

Long duration steady state, medium duration higher intensity and interval sessions all have different physiological effects. As part of my running training intervals have helped my acceleration and ability to convert fuel to power at high intensity. IT builds on the steady state and the tempo sessions.

Tabata is essentially an occulting interval frequency with the rest periods shorter than the active period. It's one of a number of tools.Given that I do both intervals and tempos the time pattern of Tabata doesn't add anything more to my training.

Azdak

So speaking from personal experience have you found tabata helpful to your fitness goals overall in comparison to steady longer cardio? Also how much do you do? And how?

Long duration steady state, medium duration higher intensity and interval sessions all have different physiological effects. As part of my running training intervals have helped my acceleration and ability to convert fuel to power at high intensity. IT builds on the steady state and the tempo sessions.

Tabata is essentially an occulting interval frequency with the rest periods shorter than the active period. It's one of a number of tools.Given that I do both intervals and tempos the time pattern of Tabata doesn't add anything more to my training.

Yay--reasonable and succinct.

People who add HIIT to a purely steady state routine will initially see dramatic results. As time goes on, it becomes primarily another tool in your toolbox and an important part of a balanced workout. HIIT vs steady-state should not be seen as "either/or".

ninerbuff

Very few people "truly" do Tabata. Going "all out" for 4 minutes takes a discipline. The majority of people who think they are doing Tabata are really just doing HIIT (not that that's bad).
It will increase your VO2max, conditioning and aerobic capacity. As for your shape and look, it's debatable.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

glenner

The research show it is supposed to be great. Google Tabata workouts too- I have seen the straight bike Tabata where you do 8 sets of 30 second cycles of 20 seconds as fast as you can, 10 seconds slow but I have also seen workouts where they do two different exercises together.

Dogwalkingirl

I hardly enough know what Tabata truly is since I have went to classes that were supposed to be 'Tabata" that consisted of doing one exercise full out, ten second rest done 8 times (total 4 minutes) then we had one minute rest then went into the next exercise. Seemed like HIIT to me and after 30 min there was no way I was going FULL OUT in every exercise. It was VERY tough, sweat tripping in my eyes and about to puke. These workouts have helped me lose 25lbs so I have no complaints. You are moving, moving hard so is it effective? Yep!