The problem with Interval training (pretty long)

I was reading a great article in OnFitness magazine (actually one of the old ones, March/April)
and wanted to quote a recent article.

Credit to Jade and Keoni Teta who are both trainers and writers for OnFitness.

This quote is from the March/April 2009 issue from the "Master the Technique" article.
and regards Tabata protocol and Interval training.

Tabata training is what we would describe as the most extreme example of interval training.
It's extremely short, extremely effective and extremely hard. The protocol entails roughly 4 minutes of super intense interval training. It entails a 20 second sprint followed by a 10 second rest. This is then repeated 6-8 times for a workout that is only 3 to 4 minutes in length total. But don't let the short time fool you. This is one of the most difficult systems we have ever encountered in the world of fitness, and it's not usually something you want to do with just any client unless you like cleaning vomit off your shoes. In the original research, the protocol was done on stationary bikes. The participants were told to sprint as hard as possible for 20 seconds approaching a VO2 max, well into the 120-170 percentile. In other words, these people were in an all-out, no=holds=barred sprint. Then they were instructed to rest for 10 seconds. Then they were to repeat. That was it. It's that simple.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM INTERVALS?
This protocol is actually not new at all. Dr. Tabata did these studies over 10 years ago. The protocol is different than other forms or interval training due to it's very short duration. For some reason, most trainers who use interval training insist on very long work intervals. In our opinion, this is where they go wrong. A work interval over one minute when doing intervals really begins to defeat the whole interval concept. It's fairly well established by those who do fitness testing on athletes, that even the most elite athletes cannot sustain an all-out-effort for more than 1 minute. Which means that 99.9 percent of the population has limits closer to 1-20 seconds. As soon as work interval goes over 1 minute, the pacing effect is engaged and fewer benefits are seen. Many people who swear they do intervals spend up to 4-5 minutes in the work phase of the intervals. Dr. Tabata showed back in 1997 that the shorter the interval, the better the effect. The study was published in the American College of Sports Medicine's flagship journal, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (March; Vol. 27 #3. In this study, Dr. Tabata showed that his 20 second work, 10 second rest protocol, done fro 3 minutes, was more effective than a 30 second work phase followed by 2 minutes of rest. The study showed that the oxygen debt accumulated in the Tabata protocol was more substantial and that his protocol taxed both the aerobic and anaerobic systems maximally. The longer protocol was effective only aerobically, but not to the same degree. For those who are unfamiliar with oxygen debt or EPOC(exercise post exercise oxygen consumption), it's a measure of the "afterburn" created from intense exercise. In other words, an exercise session with a very large oxygen debt of EPOC will create sustained fat burning far long after a workout ends. This, by the way, is the chief advantage of using interval training for fat loss over traditional aerobic exercises like long distance running or biking.


That's the end of the section I wanted to quote. The article goes on for a lot longer, and is just as riviting. I recommend picking up the issue on line at www.onfitnessmag.com

It's a trainers magazine, and sometimes goes very deep into issues, but really good if you can get past the technical aspect of it. No fluff about silly stuff, just straight hardcore nutrition and exercise that trainers would want to read.