There seems to be a trend in fitness where Tabata intervals are used alot more often in workouts. Not only am I seeing them in cardiovascular programs, but they are used in strength training circuits as well. For those not familiar with Tabata intervals, they implement a 2:1 work to rest ratio where clients perform an exercise for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds while repeating that round 7-8 times.
I am all for interval training, as well as Tabata intervals. When the original study was published back in 1996, subjects used a bike ergometer and showed an improvement in both their anaerobic and aerobic power, while subjects exercising aerobically only showed only an aerobic improvement.
Tabata’s in my program designs are used primarily in exercises done on an elliptical, slideboard, or for clients who are ready, jump squats and their variations. I do not see the rationale for performing Tabata pushups, lunges, or rotational core exercises for example. A couple of reasons why I make that statement:
- Risk of overuse injury, or suffering an acute strain if form breaks down.
- Improvement in local muscle endurance and minor improvements in aerobic fitness.
- Sacrificing training time to ‘get a client tired and sweaty’ at the expense of improving their absolute and relative strength.
A better alternative would be to use Charles Staley’s escalating density training (EDT) technique if you want to implement a time component to your or a client’s training program. Just remember that Tabata’s are just another tool to use towards your clients’ goals and are not the end all, be all.
