What is a true Tabata? Why should I do Tabata training?

When it comes to high-intensity training, there are a few buzzwords that are soooooo close to the same (and some trainers may even use them interchangeably)… but are they really?? Cat Kom is here to give it to you straight, so YOU can get straight to your HIIT training. Is a Tabata an interval? Is an interval a Tabata? Let’s find out!

Tabata Training:

A Tabata is taking any single exercise and performing it with 100% effort for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest… for 8 rounds. To be a true Tabata, you’ve gotta work at an all-out effort the entire time you’re on. By the end of the 8 rounds, you’ll want to put a fork in that particular exercise.

Example: If you’re doing skater jumps, you’ll go all out for 20 seconds, and then rest for 10. Repeat 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. If you needed every second of that 10 second rest period, and it may not have even been quite long enough, you’re probably pushing at the right effort level.

You can do a multi-exercise Tabata too. When you’re doing a Tabata workout, you still do one exercise at a time for 8 rounds, but you’ll get a whole minute rest after each exercise (so 5 minutes total per exercise). Go ALL OUT, pushing to the max each round – Earn that 1-minute rest period!

Example:

• Tabata 1 – Skater Jumps. 20 seconds on, 10 off for 8 rounds. Then a 1-minute rest.
• Tabata 2 – Bicep curls. 20 seconds on, 10 off for 8 rounds. Then a 1-minute rest.

Etc.

If you do an 8-exercise Tabata workout, you’ve got a 40-minute workout:
5 min each Tabata x 8 exercises = 40 minutes

Fun fact: While the term “Tabata” is not the name of an exotic trainer at Studio SWEAT (as some of our friends may have once thought), it IS named for Japanese scientist, Dr. Izumi Tabata.

Interval Training:

Like Tabata training, with interval training, you’ll work hard for a specific period of time and then rest. But typically, the rest periods are longer in intervals – generally 1-2 times the length of the working period.

Example: If you’re doing interval drills in a cycling class, you may go all-out in a heavy sprint for 60 seconds, and then rest for 90 seconds, then repeat. In another version, you’ll do 30 seconds of work, 30 seconds of rest/recovery. One of our fave Spin class interval drills is a ladder drill where you start at 15 seconds on/off, then increase each interval (and rest) by 15 seconds.

Another type of interval training is not timed but instead is based on your effort. You go go go at full power until you absolutely can’t anymore. Then you rest just until you can get going again, and repeat.

Long story short, Tabata IS a type of interval training, but not all interval training is a Tabata. Make sense? It does now!

Pro tip: If you are doing an at-home Tabata workout, there are apps with audible timers that let you program your 20 seconds on/10 seconds off for 8 rounds Tabata so you can focus on working your tail off, not on watching your timer.

If you want to follow OUR lead, get your Tabata torching, fat-scorching workouts at Studio SWEAT onDemand!