The Tabata protocol was created with the aim of improving the aerobic and anaerobic characteristics above the threshold (anaerobic). It lends itself to the general preparation of combat sports, but also of team sports that involve running.
It consists in performing seven or eight repetitions / repetitions at maximum intensity, alternating with ten seconds of passive recovery. The series lasts approximately four minutes. It requires very careful warm-up and activation. Cooling down also plays a decisive role.
The Tabata Protocol can be applied to Home Fitness and Circuit Training in many ways, albeit in a questionable way - see below.
It has the advantage of being very short, albeit tiring, but the disadvantage of not lending itself to the training of beginners. Furthermore, it is absolutely inadvisable to integrate it with overloads.
To learn more: High Intensity Training (HIT): Does it make you lose weight? For further information: Circuit Training For further information: Peripheral Heart Action (PHA) For further information: Circuiton Fitness ), but it is likely that similar results can also be obtained with other executions or exercises, such as spinning, the practice of the elliptical, running (also on a treadmill), the stepper, the excite, the rowing machine, skip, burpee, half squats etc.
Important! The Tabata protocol can only be performed after:
- Appropriate aerobic warm-up
- Activation and approach to greater intensities.
Note: the lower the athletic abilities, therefore the level of training, the greater the importance of the preparation phase.
The Tabata protocol is structured in series of 7 or 8 repetitions / repetitions alternating with passive recoveries of about 10 ""; the overall work should take approximately 4 "(240" ").
Each repeat of the Tabata protocol must have the typical characteristics of high intensity (HIT) - beyond the anaerobic threshold and with the activation of the anaerobic lactacid metabolism. More precisely:
- Duration: 20 ""
- Intensity: 170% of the maximum oxygen consumption (estimated in VO2max), therefore substantially at the maximum physically reachable speed.
Attention! Given the intensity of the Tabata protocol, it is necessary to finish the workout with a noteworthy cool-down - at least 10-15 ", with pulsations that frame the intensity in the low aerobic range. This will allow a more effective washing of the contractile tissues, with greater discharge of lactic acid on the general (hepatic) metabolism, rather than on the muscle itself.
For further information: Tabata Fat Burning Workout .
- Go to the Video Page
- Watch the video on youtube
The main feature of the Tabata protocol is to increase heart rate (HR) to the highest sustainable levels, making full use of both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism.
Through short pauses, which allow you to recover incomplete and only partially dispose of the lactic acid produced and accumulated, the Tabata protocol allows you to remain at the highest levels of intensity - or almost - for a long period of time, until you get to perform the hard eight repeats.
In a short time, the Tabata protocol induces a high oxygen debt that lasts until the end of the workout.
These are the mechanisms that support the beneficial effects of the Tabata protocol on athlete conditioning.
and lactate tolerance.Experimental studies on the Tabata protocol have shown that the method can confer significant benefits on the physical abilities of the body in just 6 weeks (42 days, or almost 1 month and a half). The improvements in question concern both aerobic capacities, increasing the maximum oxygen consumption, and anaerobic ones, increasing the ability to tolerate the oxygen debt.
These studies show how the activity at maximal or submaximal intensity is able to improve some components of aerobic capacity to a greater extent than the same aerobic activity of low and medium intensity at high volume - High Volume Training (HVT) - despite some believe the opposite is still valid.
of ring sports, where both the working times and the way of engaging the energy systems are very similar - maximum power for sequences of shots that last several seconds, alternating with short study phases, for the duration of a "whole shot.
The Tabata protocol can also be used successfully in general preparation for team sports involving running. For example football, soccer, basketball, handball etc.
(barbells, kettlebells, etc.). On the other hand, this system, in addition to obtaining benefits of a different nature, can prove to be potentially risky - especially for athletes with little experience.Plyometric executions (plyometrics) in fact, or even just exercises that involve movements with "critical" joint openings, if burdened by overloads imply a high risk of muscle injury (contractures, strains, tears), tendon (acute inflammation such as tendinitis or tendon rupture) and joint (sprains, subluxations, etc.).
and to Circuit Training in many ways, even if this variation often risks distorting the method itself and its effectiveness. In fact, interpreting the Tabata as a workout in stations, the recoveries and therefore the density of the training are totally upset.
The conventional Tabata protocol, on the other hand, seems an excellent training system to improve the production and tolerance to lactic acid, and to optimize the maximum oxygen consumption. It should however be specified that, while it is undeniable that it can have a greater effect than to aerobic workouts at low or medium intensity and high volume, on the other hand there are also many other systems that can equally satisfy the same needs. In fact, all HIIT workouts, if adapted to the goal, provide the same benefits.
Moreover, the most indicative bibliography, which cites the studies mentioned above, is not impartial, as it only contains experiments carried out by Dr. Tabata et al.
