Take the guesswork out of high-intensity exercise by adopting the universally acclaimed Tabata Protocol, an Olympian-style training regime that provides immediate results far exceeding those derived from endurance training. A workout that is extraordinarily brief in duration, the Tabata Protocol consists of six to eight high-intensity reps with a brief rest period between each.
Please note: do not attempt this if you have any serious health problem without consulting your doctor.
Here’s the drill: Run, jump, skip or cycle at maximum intensity for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat six to eight times. It’s done and over in less than five minutes, but its effects will be felt long afterwards.
“The Tabata Protocol provides a strong stimulus to improve your cardiovascular fitness with a very short duration workout,” says Dr. Alexander Koch, associate professor of Health and Exercise Sciences at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.
“More studies are now revealing that exercise intensity, rather than frequency and duration, is the key variable behind improvement in maximum oxygen consumption (Vo2max).”
Credit for this deceptively simple training method belongs to Dr. Izumi Tabata and a team of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Tokyo, Japan.
Their groundbreaking 1997 study, published in Medicine & Science in Sports Exercise, provided documented evidence concerning the dramatic physiological benefits of high-intensity intermittent training.
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