The Ultimate Guide to Using the Tabata Method Workout for Martial Arts Fitness Training #1

The Tabata method is a superb aerobic and anaerobic training protocol which produces a lactate threshold training effect. Performed correctly the workouts are hard but the fitness gains are fantastic. An example of a HIIT (high intensity interval training),

Tabata workouts can be used for almost many martial art fitness purpose, regardless of style or martial arts discipline. This can include cutting weight for a fight, preparing for a grading/competition, greatly increasing fitness or shedding excess fat.

This hub will provide you with all the information required to successfully utilise the Tabata workout for martial arts fitness training, so you can benefit from the superb training effects. The workout can be performed using almost any piece of equipment or using any cardio exercise.

To make the timing the intervals easy the Gymboss Timer is highly recommended. This simple, yet extremely effective timer allows you to focus on the training rather than the clock - the Gymboss Interval Timer is the ideal Tabata clock!

The Tabata protocol can be used to stress both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. To explain, as exercise intensity increases the limit at which your body can use oxygen is known as VO2 max. Moderate exercise methodologies suggest training at 60%-80% of this limit to stress the aerobic system and ultimately to improve aerobic capacity.

Exercising beyond the VO2 max limit means that your body must rely on non-aerobic (anaerobic) energy production to continue. Anaerobic exercise results in an oxygen debt and inflated levels of lactic acid, or lactate, your anaerobic capacity refers to your ability to exercise at this intensity. Correct training at or beyond this intensity will raise the point at which you begin to operate anaerobically, i.e. the lactate threshold. Lactate threshold training therefore is beneficial to both aerobic and anaerobic capacity. One way to train in this manner is with the Tabata method.

Originally designed and tested at National Institute of Fitness and Sports, in Japan, the protocol gets its name from the lead researcher Dr Tabata Izumi. He and his team compared the effects of two six week cycling training regimes; one, moderate intensity long duration, the other high intensity and short duration.

Participants warmed up and then trained at 70% of VO2 max (a measure of aerobic capacity) for 60 minutes, five days a week for six weeks or followed what is now called the Tabata method. That is, after warming up they performed seven or eight sets of 20 seconds at 170% of VO2 max split by a 10 second rest interval. Measures of anaerobic capacity and VO2 max were taken before during and following the training period.

The findings demonstrated striking differences between the training groups. The moderate intensity group improved VO2 max by 10% over the course of the training program while the high intensity group exhibited a VO2 max improvement of 14% while the anaerobic capacity was enhanced by a massive 28%! Exceptional findings in themselves these findings are even more impressive when you consider that the participants were members of the University table tennis, baseball, basketball, football and swimming teams with comparatively high aerobic capacities. The study did not start from a low baseline that could easily be improved.

It’s pretty incredible that a four minute exercise methodology outperformed a 60 minute one. That equates to twenty minutes a week verses five hours a week! Of course, given the high intensity required to achieve the full benefit’s theTabatamethod is not suitable for the very unfit, but for fairly accomplished martial artists it’s ideal.

The short duration aspect of the protocol makes it ideal for inclusion in any martial arts class or MMA fighters training program; the potential fitness benefits are clear. The method is also good because the 20:10 on/off ratio is pretty representative of the intensity of a fight in competition or on the street. After all a boxer or karate fighter is likely to strike in bursts rather than flat out for an entire round/fight.

Of course, the original protocol should be followed but the exercise content can be varied as required. A martial artist is only limited by imagination. A program can consist of exercises such as press-ups, pull ups and lunges, or techniques such as punches and kicks on a heavy bag. Alternatively a mixture of both exercises and martial arts techniques could be incorporated into a mixed routine.

This versatility combined with short duration of the method makes Tabata’s ideal for almost any aspect of your martial arts fitness training. Conditioning exercises and specific skills can be trained separately or combined into a rapid time saving routine. For conditioning, upper, lower body core and back exercise can comprise a full upstairs/downstairs session, in just four minutes! On the other hand skills can be trained in isolation, a particular punch combination can be practiced rapidly using the Tabata method or a variety of techniques can be integrated into a short, sharp session. While for more fun a combined skills and conditioning routine can be devised.

Furthermore this type of high intensity interval training raises the metabolic rate for a long time, above and beyond the duration of the Tabata exercise session. This creates a fat burning effect has been shown to be greater than that derived from low intensity continuous exercise. Naturally, this is dependant on the work intensity during the Tabata session being very high, maximal even.

When cutting weight for competition or a MMA fight the Tabata method is probably better than long plodding road or bike sessions!

The Gymboss timer is a life saver, well it's a very good Tabata clock. I can't imagine doing Tabata training drills without one. More than just an interval timer the Gymboss can also work as a countdown timer and a stopwatch and is even available in different colours now!

The versatility of this piece of kit means that it can handle all your Tabata progressions (see below) as well as timing your martial arts sparring rounds or anything else you might want it for. In the picture above the timer has been set for two intervals, 3 minutes and 1 minute, to automatically run 10 times. Of course, for the Tabata method this would remain on the auto setting but would run for 20 and 10 seconds, 8 times. The timer can handle interval durations of between 2 seconds and 99 minutes repeated for as many as 99 times!

It's a nice compact little thing about 4.5cm x 6cm x 1.5cm with a secure clip to attach it to your clothing or a belt. There are vibrate and/or beep functions, which can be set for 1,5 or 10 seconds. I set it at 1 second for the Tabata protocol which is sufficient, the final beep lasts for ten seconds to alert you of the finish, I tend to be aware of the finish though, and pretty glad of it!

It's pretty easy to set up once you get the hang of it, and has a handy option to scroll back through the options if you go to far by mistake, which can happen! The video below shows you exactly how to operate the timer.

This invaluable piece of kit is available for just $19.95, it's a snip! I live in the UK and the delivery was rapid, I can't actually remember how long it took to arrive but I do know it was rapid.

It’s easy to play around with the format which stops things getting stale. There will be a point when warm-up, tabata, cool down is no longer sufficiently challenging, there are several ways to increase the intensity in order to continue benefiting from the aerobic and anaerobic gains.

Add another Tabata set - you can include a one or two minute breather if you like or simply follow on immediately

Increase the time - try 30:15, 40:20 or even 60:30, but be aware that the longer the ‘on’ stage the more difficult it is to work at the highest intensity

Increase the ratio - the regular ratio is 2:1 you could increase this to 3:1 or even 4:1 if brave. This has the advantage of increasing the intensity of the routine while keeping the entire routine short (3:1 x 8 = 5 mins 20s; 4:1 x 8 = 6 mins 40s)

Increase the difficulty - the exercises or skills could be upgraded to be of a higher intensity or greater load

Count the number of reps of each exercise and try to beat your record. If you use the same exercise throughout aTabata routine you can

Of course you can mix and match these approaches to provide progression or just to add some variety. For the conditioning section of one of our sessions we have progressed from the regular 20:10 x 8 method to 20:10 x 12 then 20:10 x 16 and to the present 30:10 x 16 protocol. We simply added stations to the circuit in two stages then increased the ratio. The final progression happened by accident, I set the Gymboss timer incorrectly and as we started off was amazed at how many reps I managed. We retained the more arduous method which is just under eleven minutes of effort but feels like a lot more.

Given the intensity of the Tabata method it is only really suitable for relatively fit individuals. For those not sufficiently fit an adaption of the training protocol is required to bring such individuals up to scratch. Many beginners in a martial arts class are not ready to work at the required intensity.

One way to lower the intensity for beginners and the unfit is to alter the on:off ratio in favour of the rest period. You could opt for a 1:1 or even 1:2 ratio, building to 2:3 to 1:1 and on to the regular Tabata method. This of course is problematic in a class situation where different fitness levels require disparate protocols. One solution would be to allow the unfit beginner to work aerobically, I.e. at a lower intensity. So rather than go flat out they would hold a bit back, of course there would need to be goals set around reps so that fitness improvement resulted in increased intensity until the beginner is also working at a high intensity.

Alternatively, lower intensity exercises or techniques could be employed for the beginners until these can be completed fairly easily. Using RPE would be a method of testing when progression is needed, a RPE of say 5 or 6 would require an upgrade in exercise intensity. That level would only be suitable for beginners, the more advanced would need to move up a notch if the RPE level slipped to less than 7. The intensity MUST be high and really at the 8 or 9 mark or even 10!

Briefly RPE refers to Borg's Rating of Perceived Exertion which ranges from 0 - laying down doing nothing - to 10 - the hardest intensity you could ever imagine working at. The scale is something like this.

0 - NOTHING, 0.5 - VERY, VERY LIGHT, 1 - VERY LIGHT,

2 FAIRLY LIGHT 3 - MODERATE, 4 - SOMEWHAT HARD,

5 - HARD, 7 - VERY HARD, 10 - MAXIMAL!

All of these exercise parameters can be addressed using the Tabata HIIT protocol, with a little thought. A short strength based circuit could be devised although it will not be the equivalent of what people generally do in the gymn. I’d argue that it would be better than a usual gym routine as the on/off intensity is closer to that of a fight. This specificity could be sharpened by including weight bearing exercises that more closely resemble the skills required in a fight.

So rather than use a barbell or dumbell, you could perform a number of sandbag or Bulgarian bag exercises, or combine these with martial arts skills or regular weight training exercises within a Tabata session. You will not be lifting at your maximum because if you do the emphasis will shift from repeated anaerobic intensity to pure maximal strength. Put another way I don’t recall reading any strength training advice to use Tabata’s to reach your maximum lifting potential, the emphasis is different.

Speed training is pretty obvious, simply blast out as many reps of an exercise or skill as you can within the 20s ‘on’ period. One method of power training would be to fire off some fast reps, four or five followed by one or two full power reps of one or any number of MMA skills within a Tabata exercise protocol. The key is to fully release the power aiming to increase the intensity over time will help develop greater power. Another would be to include power exercises such as medicine ball slams into the session.

Of course you could combine all three elements into one Tabata exercise routine

1. Sandbag - overhead lift
2. Heavy Bag - hooks (reps 5 speed & 2 full power)
   
3. Medicine Ball - over head slams
4. Bulgarian Bag - overhead swings
5. Sandbag - curls
6. Heavy Bag - Round kicks (5 reps then switch legs)
7. Bulgarian Bag - sit ups
8. Heavy Bag - punches (3 shot combo)

This routine incorporating the Tabata method would take four minutes plus warm up and cooldown and so could be fitted into a busy daily routine quite easily. Great Stuff