3403: Tabata Weight Loss: 4 Minute Workout Myth by Christian Finn of Muscle Evo on Effective Fat Loss

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. Tabata Weight Loss 4 Minute Workout Myth by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net. And I'm Dr. Neal Malik reading you some of the most popular health and fitness blogs out there. With permission from the website. And always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now, let's keep this intro nice and short so we can get right to the post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:27] Tabata Weight Loss 4 Minute Workout Myth by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net. Not long ago, I got an email from someone who wanted to use Tabata intervals for weight loss. They wrote, Does Tabata work for weight loss? Everything I've read on the subject says you can lose fat with a 4 minute workout. It's an interesting question and I've wondered the same thing many times. Because I'm fundamentally lazy, I'm always looking for ways to get better results in less time.

[00:01:56] And this question started me thinking about it again. Is it really possible to lose fat with a 4 minute workout? Does the Tabata workout work for weight loss? I'll tell you exactly what I think in a moment. But first, here's a little background. What is the Tabata workout? Back in 1996, a Japanese scientist by the name of Izumi Tabata published a study that compared

[00:02:21] conventional aerobic exercise with high intensity interval training or HIIT training. In Tabata study, one group did a full 60 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days per week. Group 2 also trained 5 days per week but performed up to 8 20 second sprints of high intensity cycling with a 10 second rest or pedaling at a slower rate in between.

[00:02:47] On the 5th day, the interval group also did 30 minutes of steady state exercise at 70% of their VO2 max. This was followed by 4 intervals. Tabata found that on the high intensity interval training program, which has become known as the Tabata protocol, this improved their VO2 max and anaerobic capacity to a greater extent than athletes on a typical endurance training regimen.

[00:03:15] That's despite the big difference in the amount of time each group spent working out. In the lower intensity steady state group, VO2 max increased by around 10%. Subjects in the high intensity interval training group, however, registered a gain of approximately 15%. These results demonstrate why the Tabata protocol generated so much interest.

[00:03:37] The high intensity interval training group increased their VO2 max to a greater extent than the lower intensity steady state group, despite exercising for only a fraction of the time. What Tabata didn't do. Before you listen on, I should point out two things. Firstly, Tabata's research looked at the effect of high intensity training on VO2 max and anaerobic capacity. VO2 max is a way of measuring aerobic power.

[00:04:07] It tells you how much oxygen your body can use at a maximal level of effort and is usually expressed in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. He did not look at the impact of Tabata training on weight loss, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption or EPOC, fat burning, resting metabolism, muscle growth, or any of the other things that some people are claiming. All he did was compare one form of interval training

[00:04:35] with lower intensity steady state cardiovascular exercise over a period of six weeks. In addition, most of the gains in aerobic power came in the first three weeks of the study before gradually tapering off. Lyle McDonald wrote, Interestingly, the running coach, Arthur Lyddiard, made this observation half a century ago. After months of base training, he found that only three weeks of interval work were necessary to sharpen his athletes.

[00:05:04] More than that was neither necessary nor desirable. End quote. High intensity interval training isn't going to keep on improving your VO2 max indefinitely. Do too much of it and there's a good chance your performance will gradually get worse rather than better. Most athletes divide their training into seasons where they work at different levels of intensity depending on their proximity to a competition rather than working at maximum effort all the time.

[00:05:31] In fact, many athletes will spend most of their training time working at a relatively low intensity. They're certainly not pushing their heart rates to the limit and going flat out in every workout. Second, the Tabata training protocol described in the original study involves all-out sprinting on a stationary bike. I'm not talking about a level of intensity that gets you a little out of breath. This type of training is brutally hard. Tabata says,

[00:05:58] If you feel okay afterwards, you've not done it properly. The first three repetitions will feel easy, but the last two will feel impossibly hard. In the original plan, the aim was to get to eight, but some subjects only lasted six or seven. End quote. Mountain climbers, kettlebell swings, squat jumps, lunges, push-ups, or burpees with a 20-second work interval and 10 seconds of rest are not the same thing

[00:06:24] and have not been shown to deliver faster gains in VO2 max than steady-state cardio. What about fat loss? If you want to lose fat, you need a calorie deficit. As long as your diet is in order, any form of exercise is going to make some kind of contribution, however small, to that deficit. But despite their popularity, the use of Tabata intervals to burn fat does have its limitations. The main problem is that no matter how hard you push yourself,

[00:06:53] there's a limit to the number of calories you can burn in a high-intensity training workout lasting only four minutes. It's true that many of the calories burned will come after the workout has finished. That's because high-intensity exercise has a much bigger afterburn effect than moderate-intensity activity. However, the size of the post-exercise calorie burn is dependent on both exercise intensity, or how hard you work, and exercise duration, how long you work for.

[00:07:21] The effect that a short bout of exercise, no matter how high your heart rate might get, has on your metabolism, just isn't as great as some people seem to think. Is the Tabata workout good for weight loss? How does the Tabata workout stack up in the weight loss department? As it turns out, not very well. In one study, a team of Brazilian researchers report that Tabata intervals performed three times a week for four months have only a trivial effect on body fat.

[00:07:50] They compared three different training schedules, a high-intensity interval training workout, which were eight high-intensity 20-second treadmill sprints interspersed by 10 seconds of passive recovery, or 30 minutes of lower-intensity steady-state cardio, or a circuit of four calisthenic exercises. Here's what the calisthenic workout routine looked like. Burpees, mountain climbers, squat thrusters, and jumping jacks.

[00:08:17] Each workout was done for 20 seconds, with 10 seconds of rest between each one. The sequence of four exercises was performed twice. The result? All three training programs delivered similar gains in VO2max. However, there was no meaningful change in body fat or muscle mass over the course of the study. In fact, the only group that lost any weight was the steady-state cardio group. Here's what the researchers had to say. Quote,

[00:08:46] Significant but trivial reductions were observed in the sum of skin folds and in the percentage of body fat, both with no difference between protocols. End quote. A 2012 study, published by a team of researchers from Canada's Kingston University, generated much the same set of results. A series of calisthenic exercises, burpees, jumping jacks, mountain climbers, or squat thrusters, performed four times a week for a month, didn't lead to any weight being lost. Final thoughts.

[00:09:16] High-intensity interval training workouts are both a highly effective and time-efficient way to boost your VO2max and anaerobic capacity. Just like any form of exercise, high-intensity interval training will also make some kind of contribution to fat loss. However, many of the claims being made about the effectiveness of Tabata workouts for weight loss go way beyond what was shown in the original study.

[00:09:40] You just listened to the post titled, Tabata Weight Loss, 4-Minute Workout Myth by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net and I'll be right back with my commentary. If you're a small business, the right hire can be make or break. Hoping the right people see your job posting isn't the best growth strategy. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs.

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[00:11:06] to athletic stuff, like a half mile stroll. Get those steps in! And for morning hikes up the mountain trail, good pace! It's a nighttime ghost choice from the camping chair. What a twist! Whatever level of active, Sierra loves it all. Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. Dr. Neal Malik here with my commentary. During a recent Q&A episode,

[00:11:33] I talked about the importance of incorporating both high-intensity interval training and lower-intensity training as part of our fitness routines. As today's author Christian mentioned, doing too much of one form of training can actually hinder our progress. The body is complicated, and to assume one style of training is going to give us all the results and answers we've been looking for is definitely short-sighted. Like with nutrition, variety with exercise is key.

[00:12:01] So to get the most benefit from your workouts, incorporate variety. The American College of Sports Medicine states that we should incorporate some lower-intensity to moderate-intensity activities most days of the week, then incorporate some higher-intensity activities and some resistance or strength training, as well as some stretching. So again, note how the American College of Sports Medicine recommends a very well-rounded approach to fitness.

[00:12:30] Alright, that'll do it for today. Don't forget, I'll be back here tomorrow for our usual Friday Q&A, so definitely stay tuned for that, where your optimal life awaits.