Tabata workout: what the original study measured, and how to run one

A Tabata is 20 seconds of hard work and 10 seconds of rest, eight times, which comes to four minutes. The name comes from a 1996 study. The four-minute format you'll see on a timer is a simplified version of what that study did, which is fine for training as long as you know which one you're doing.

This page covers what the original study did and measured, what became of the protocol, a bodyweight Tabata-style session that was tested, and two sessions to run. A Tabata is one kind of HIIT, so the HIIT workout covers the general case, and HIIT vs steady-state cardio covers how intervals compare with steady cardio.

What the original study did

The 1996 paper reported two six-week training experiments, both on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer.¹

• Moderate endurance training: 60 minutes a day, five days a week, at 70% of maximal oxygen uptake. Maximal oxygen uptake rose from 53 to 58 mL/kg/min. Anaerobic capacity, measured as the maximal accumulated oxygen deficit, did not increase significantly.¹
• High-intensity intermittent training: seven subjects trained five days a week.¹ The exhaustive training was seven to eight sets of 20 seconds at about 170% of maximal oxygen uptake with 10 seconds of rest between, on four of the five days, as the first author's 2019 review describes it; the fifth day was 30 minutes at 70% of maximal oxygen uptake plus four non-exhaustive sets.^1,2 Maximal oxygen uptake rose by 7 mL/kg/min and anaerobic capacity by 28%.¹

Three things follow from that. The results its abstract reports are maximal oxygen uptake and anaerobic capacity, nothing else. The exhaustive sessions ran to exhaustion, which is seven to eight sets, not a fixed eight. And "about 170%" is measured against each person's own maximal oxygen uptake, a pace that can't be held for more than seconds, so there is no way to hit that number by feel. A 2025 review by the study's first author describes the protocol as a form of exhaustive intermittent training, 6 to 8 sets of 20 seconds of supramaximal cycling with 10 seconds of recovery, originally developed for athletes.³

What became of the protocol

A 2019 review searched PubMed and Scopus for English-language human trials from 1996 to October 2017 that cited the original papers and tested a training intervention on the protocol. Thirty studies qualified. Only five said they used the original protocol, and 11 used a variation of it on a cycle ergometer. Intensity was controlled in at least eight different ways, most often by going all-out (10 studies). The review's conclusion was that variations of the protocol seem to give increases in aerobic power similar to traditional aerobic training while taking less time.⁴

So when a video says "Tabata", it usually means the format: 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, eight rounds. That's a variation, which is how most of the research on it was done too.

A bodyweight Tabata-style session that was tested

In 22 recreationally active women, one group did one set of eight 20-second efforts of a single exercise (burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers or squat thrusts) with 10 seconds of rest between, four days a week for four weeks. Peak oxygen uptake rose about 8%, in line with the about 7% in a group doing 30 minutes of treadmill training at about 85% of maximal heart rate. The interval group also improved its muscular endurance, with push-ups up 135% and sit-ups up 64%. There were seven people in each trained group, and the trial ran four weeks.⁵

Two Tabata sessions to run

These are practical starting points, not trial protocols. You need a timer set for eight rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off; any interval timer or phone clock will do.

Pick moves you can do cleanly at speed: ten seconds is too short to reset a complicated lift. If jumping isn't what you want, swap in step-ups or any move from the low-impact workout. The trial's group did the four-minute version four days a week; one a week for two weeks, then two, is a practical start.

How hard

The World Health Organization describes vigorous activity as usually a 7 or 8 on a 0-to-10 scale of perceived exertion.⁶ At home, aim for that: hard enough that by round six or seven you're slowing and glad of the ten seconds. All-out in every round is not the aim. The original intensity, 170% of maximal oxygen uptake, can only be set in a lab.

Where it fits in your week

The WHO's guideline for adults counts 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity a week as an alternative to 150 to 300 of moderate, and it counts bouts of any duration, so short hard sessions add to the week.⁶ Put it on a day when you aren't training legs hard; cardio and lifting covers the spacing. A four-minute block also works as the hard part of a longer day, after a warm-up and before an easy walk.

Common questions

How long is a Tabata?

Eight rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 off is four minutes. The original exhaustive sessions were seven to eight sets taken to exhaustion.¹ A "20-minute Tabata" is several four-minute blocks in a row, like the second session above.

Is a Tabata the same as HIIT?

It is one HIIT format, at the sprint end. One review splits interval training into high-intensity efforts, "near maximal", and sprint efforts, "supramaximal",⁷ and the original protocol's own author calls its efforts supramaximal.³ A home version rated 7 or 8 out of 10 sits closer to ordinary HIIT. The HIIT workout has longer sessions.

Can a beginner do a Tabata?

Start with the four-minute version and one move you know well, one session a week for two weeks, then two, and add a block after a few weeks. If you're new to exercise altogether, steady sessions first are a gentler start.

What if something hurts?

If you have pain, an injury or a medical condition, a doctor or a physical therapist should set the limits before you train hard; this page is general guidance for healthy adults.

If you'd rather have the week planned

A four-minute format is easy to fit in. Fitting it around lifting, work and everything else is the part that takes planning. Coaching is the version where your workouts live in the Trainerize app, sized to the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one around what's coming. Coaching for a week that doesn't hold still explains how that works, and apply is the first step. Otherwise: set a timer for eight rounds of 20 seconds on and 10 off, and do one move.