Road Bike Racing - Anyone using Tabata intervals?

I've been reading up a bit on different interval workouts and stumbled on a study that appears to have been peer reviewed at least to some extent. Basically, the crux of Tabata's research is that intervals structured with 20s on and 10s off in sets of 6-8 lead to relatively large increases in both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. I'm a relatively strong cat 5 that's ridden for years and I'm finally getting to do some more consistent racing this year. I'm not expecting to cat up to 3s by the end of the year with something like this, but I am curious to see if anyone has used this method and what the results were, if any.

Tabata Style Intervals
by The Bike Messenger
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Published: 02/07/2007
In the never ending need to ride my bicycle too hard, too early, I decided to throw in a couple heavy-duty intervals into tonights workout...and since the news is sparse, I thought I'd share my thoughts on the workout with my readers.

So here's what I did. I did the entire workout on a CompuTrainer, in ergometer mode, with the intervals and wattages pre-set. I did not strictly adhere to the TRUE Tabata protocol which I believe is 8-10 all-out efforts and you're basically done which would make for a very short training session (too short!).

First, what is a "Tabata" interval? The Tabata protocol was developed by a Japanese Doctor by the last name of Tabata. So the story goes...the Tabata protocol is said to tax both the aerobic and anaerobic pathways to their maximum, which results in unprecedented improvement in anaerobic and aerobic capacity over the period of the study.

Ok, sounds great - where do I sign up? So I experimented on a couple recent tempo rides - just to get a feel for times, wattages, etc. Here's what I came up with...

** 30 Min. Warmup / Tempo:


10 Min. Warmup (150-190 watts)
15 Min. Tempo (220 watts)
5 Min. Rest Spin (150 watts)
** Start 1st set consisting of Tabata Intervals (6 in a row = ~2 minutes of work time per set):
18 seconds starting at 350 watts, climbing to peak around 600 watts, and going back down to 350 watts to finish the 18 second "all-out" effort. I was out of the saddle for the peak near 600 watts, seated for the beginning and end. (350-600 watts)
12 second rest interval spinning lightly (110 watts)
**7 minute spin at 150 watts

** Start 2nd set consisting of 6 Tabata Intervals

Same 18 sec. on / 12 sec. off protocol
Same wattage range as above
Stayed seated for most of the intervals
**7 minute spin at 150 watts

** Start 3rd set consisting of 6 Tabata Intervals

Alright! That was a good workout...it was hard, but I finished all intervals. This always seems to be an issue when using the pre-programmed ergometer mode on the CompuTrainer -- that it either makes your intervals too hard or to easy. Until you really have your wattage zones dialed in and continue to monitor them, it's difficult to get ergo workouts setup correctly. I like the ergometer mode because it is almost like a coach standing there yelling at you not letting you quit. It has no mercy, there is no "letting up", there is not "soft pedaling". It's raw, unadulterated power to the cranks.

Below is a chart of my CompuTrainer session where you can see some of the specifics of my workout. For instance: A good indicator as to how hard the Tabata efforts were by how much my cadence drops at the end of the 6th 18-second interval because I'm just cooked and essentially stopped pedaling altogether for a few seconds...



CONCLUSION...

My first question is, can I really make any valid conclusions from having completed one fantastic interval workout? Probably not, but oh well...here we go.

The feeling I had at the end of each set was reminiscent of any criterium where I was way overmatched. By the 6th interval my heart rate was through the roof, I was breathing pretty heavy, and I was having trouble putting out powerful strokes.

Essentially what it felt like was a 3 minute VO2 max interval, that instead of being done at a steady 330 watts, was done by having intermittent periods of work and rest, which in the end, may have a similar (but slightly different?) metabolic effect on the body. By the end of each set 6 intervals (3 total minutes, including rest periods), my heartrate was approaching maximum (within 0 to 5 beats of max hr).

Overall, I think I'll try to use these again in my training. They are very specific to the demands that are required for criterium racing. SpokePost.com gives the Tabata inteval protocol a "5 chain-link rating" (whatever that is, we don't have a rating system, but if we did, it would be something silly like that).

Thanks for reading this jabber.

I have only read one study where the effects of the tabata intervals on VO2 max were studied and it used suibjects that were less than "trained". They were not sedentary but their initial VO2max numbers were by no means an indication that they were in much form either. With a situation like this, I think any sort of intense training will help to increase vo2max. Try searching pubmed for more resources. I am interested as to what you find.
~Nick

Thanks for including a reference to the original article and not just wholesale pasting it in here - OH WAIT, that's what you did.

Please see original article here:
http://spokepost.com/news/story/1746/

These are fun :D. I do them with the rowing team. Done right, they can be incredibly painful.

These are fun :D. I do them with the rowing team. Done right, they can be incredibly painful.

And make you strong.

I've used them this year, for the last two weeks (this is my third) to train my recovery and top end. I've not raced enough to conclude anything, but anyone that has done them know that they really make you suffer--and thats a big part of bike racing: attacking, bridging, last lap, etc./suffering.

variations of them, yes. but not every week or for prolonged weeks on end as my body stagnates if doing those + racing + group rides.

I do microburst...similar. 15sec on @500w 15 sec off sub 150w. Do this for 10 mins, 5 min rest, rinse and repeat.

They hurt like hell.

they are wonderful at making me stronger-
and they are the one thing I dread seeing on my workout sheet when that day shows up

I will try them on my next interval training session.

Heh. Since I started this thread I've incorporated them into my speed work in the early season with a decent amount of success. Haven't done a set in a while due to a relatively lazy May and a midweek race series in June, plus racing on the weekends.

We have a baby on the way any day now, but after a couple of months or so I plan to use them again to get ready for cross this winter. I found that they worked well for me when used in tandem with other speed work during the week. I'll usually alternate weeks, too, and replace Tabatas with more traditional sprint interval work. 1 day of intervals plus 1 day of steady state work seems to be enough speed work for me at the moment.

Heh. Since I started this thread I've incorporated them into my speed work in the early season with a decent amount of success. Haven't done a set in a while due to a relatively lazy May and a midweek race series in June, plus racing on the weekends.

We have a baby on the way any day now, but after a couple of months or so I plan to use them again to get ready for cross this winter. I found that they worked well for me when used in tandem with other speed work during the week. I'll usually alternate weeks, too, and replace Tabatas with more traditional sprint interval work. 1 day of intervals plus 1 day of steady state work seems to be enough speed work for me at the moment.

I found that doing one set of tabatas, early in the morning, a few days of week in conjunction with regular intervals had me flying within a few weeks.

I've been doing it on the treadmill at a 12% incline and 7.5-8.0 MPH. I've gotten much faster at running and been shedding weight faster than anything else.

I've been doing it on the treadmill at a 12% incline and 7.5-8.0 MPH. I've gotten much faster at running and been shedding weight faster than anything else.

do you jump on and off the treadmill? None of the treadmills I've been on would allow me to shift incline or speed fast enough to pull off a tabata interval.

Hmm. I am intrigued. I've been doing 1 min. on, 1 min. off intervals. They hurt. These sound even more painful.

do you jump on and off the treadmill? None of the treadmills I've been on would allow me to shift incline or speed fast enough to pull off a tabata interval.

seriously, my 3 y.o. ultegra is barely quick enough to handle it

Tabatas are simply amazing. Nothing gets the lungs burning quite like 'em. I felt a serious improvement doing just 3 tabata intervals once a week for 4 weeks.

I do. I'm having difficulties finding the right cadence to get my heart rate up before the legs go kaput. I usually do standing sprints and my legs blow before I can hit zone 5 heart rates. I tried sitting and spinning sprints, hit zone 5 on rep 5 or so. Legs didn't feel as fazed though, not sure which I should focus more on.

I do. I'm having difficulties finding the right cadence to get my heart rate up before the legs go kaput. I usually do standing sprints and my legs blow before I can hit zone 5 heart rates. I tried sitting and spinning sprints, hit zone 5 on rep 5 or so. Legs didn't feel as fazed though, not sure which I should focus more on.

Why does it matter what your HR is doing? This doesn't seem like the kind of workout (short intervals) you can do by HR, it doesn't respond fast enough.

Why does it matter what your HR is doing? This doesn't seem like the kind of workout (short intervals) you can do by HR, it doesn't respond fast enough.

I would think so, but when in doubt... I thought I had read somewhere that you should be hitting zone 5 by the end. I guess it's more an issue if I should be trying to burn my legs off or choke a lung up when "on." Or somehow find the magic equilibrium that smashes both.

do you jump on and off the treadmill? None of the treadmills I've been on would allow me to shift incline or speed fast enough to pull off a tabata interval.

yeah I just jump off and stand over the moving belt.


The treadmills at my gym has incline... you don't have to run that fast at all if you can jack up the incline.

I would think so, but when in doubt... I thought I had read somewhere that you should be hitting zone 5 by the end. I guess it's more an issue if I should be trying to burn my legs off or choke a lung up when "on." Or somehow find the magic equilibrium that smashes both.

Here's how you do Tabatas if you don't have a power meter (assuming you're doing the 6-7 repeats of 20s "on"/ 10s "off", as the study outlined):

Do the first 2 or 3 just slightly less than "as hard as you can go"...the the last 4 are done "as hard as you can go" :twitchy:

Tabatas are simply amazing. Nothing gets the lungs burning quite like 'em. I felt a serious improvement doing just 3 tabata intervals once a week for 4 weeks.

Try doing 6-7 intervals, 5-6X per week for 6 weeks. That's the study protocol :thumb:

I tried these at the end of this morning's tempo ride. A couple observations:

1) I need to set the audible alarms on my watch because at 100% effort, I can't read the numbers very well.
2) I shouldn't do these on the road. Either the trainer or find a lightly traveled section of the bike trail.
3) Wow, that hurt.

Just thought I'd comment on the last poster. I'm the original author of the article that was pasted above...I've also written a new article recently about my experience with Tabata's here: http://spokepost.com/news/story/2981/

As for doing Tabata's after a Tempo workout....the recommendation is to do nothing but a warmup prior to doing the intervals. The reason for this is that you want absolute maximum intensity on these intervals and ANY fatigue before doing them will lower this intensity slightly. I would probably even reduce the "warmup" that I did in my original article and increase the intensity slightly.

If Tabata's are done correctly, especially on the road, it will be hard to complete more than one full set of them. You'll see in that article link above that I have been doing a full set of 8 or so, followed by a couple reduced sets. Just remember that the first interval or two are always the most useful and productive with diminishing returns after that.

Just thought I'd comment on the last poster. I'm the original author of the article that was pasted above...I've also written a new article recently about my experience with Tabata's here: http://spokepost.com/news/story/2981/

As for doing Tabata's after a Tempo workout....the recommendation is to do nothing but a warmup prior to doing the intervals. The reason for this is that you want absolute maximum intensity on these intervals and ANY fatigue before doing them will lower this intensity slightly. I would probably even reduce the "warmup" that I did in my original article and increase the intensity slightly.

If Tabata's are done correctly, especially on the road, it will be hard to complete more than one full set of them. You'll see in that article link above that I have been doing a full set of 8 or so, followed by a couple reduced sets. Just remember that the first interval or two are always the most useful and productive with diminishing returns after that.

+1

I thought the Tabata protocol was to go ALL OUT for twice as long as the rest period. Usually all out for 20s then off for 10s without paying any attention to HR or PM. Then puke, hopefully not before reaching the goal of 8 intervals.

If you are going by HR or PM then you are pacing yourself which is not an all out effort.

Interesting article. I was introduced to a variation of this on the Track years ago and found that in general short high intensity intervals had a profound impact on my racing.

I believe the biggest misconception, as you pointed out, is doing this type of workout tired. For some reason it's hard to steer Road Riders away from high volume workouts. They tend to want to sprint tired. Reasoning that since this is the case in a Race somehow they will improve speed by training it tired.

I've been hooked on what you describe as "power starts" for years (my Track coach had these in every workout, we referred to them as Jumps), we incorporated them into the warmup. It's also a very good check on your sprint position, if you are hopping a wheel, poor hand position, ect it will be very obvious. My workout looks like this:

10 min Warm up
3 to 4 Jumps, 53x18 or so
5 min easy spin
Intervals
Ride Home

Spoke -

Thanks for the update. What is your overall feeling on their effectiveness? Have they had any impact on your FTP or is this solely a sprinter's workout?

Try doing 6-7 intervals, 5-6X per week for 6 weeks. That's the study protocol :thumb:

Tom-

I know you were doing these coming back from your unplanned break a month or so ago but have you actually been following the protocol? If so when are you squeezing them in during the week? Last, what are your findings to date? I know that you initially saw a big jump in FTP, but has that tapered off and if so at what point did you begin to see diminishing returns?

Thanks!

gr

Spoke -

Thanks for the update. What is your overall feeling on their effectiveness? Have they had any impact on your FTP or is this solely a sprinter's workout?

I'll answer based on similar tabata type efforts in years past vs. a more ftp/longer vo2max effort tailored training program this year.

I worked with a coach for 3 years prior to this one, she prescribed alot of tabata, 30" on/30" off and similar variations on those themes. I did a 2x20' workout on the 1st Tuesday in August 2008 and my AP was 298W for the 1st and 287W for the second.

this season, for various reasons, I've done very few tabata type workouts, but rather have tried to focus more on ftp push with SST, 2x20s at ftp, the "pacing" workout, VO2 intervals of 3' - 8', and let the group rides/racing take care of the rest. The 1st Tuesday in August 2009 I did a 2x20' workout on the same road as 2008, and AP was 296W 1st effort and 295W for the 2nd. So, the difference between 2008 and 2009 for the same workout was so minimal that I would attribute it to daily variation.

Also, this season I've felt that I've lacked the "pop" of seasons past, and my sprint wattages have been inconsistent (but usually lower) compared with prior years.

Although I wouldnt purport this to be a scientific study by any stretch of the imagination, it has compelled me to conclude that FOR ME tabata or similar efforts both build FTP, but also keep neuromuscular communication for explosive/sprint efforts firing.

My hopes are that building FTP the manner that I did in 2009 results in more sustainable or permanent gains (meaning season to season) than those built by tabata type efforts, which for me seemed quicker to come by, but also shorter lived.

a big YMMV.

Tom-

I know you were doing these coming back from your unplanned break a month or so ago but have you actually been following the protocol? If so when are you squeezing them in during the week? Last, what are your findings to date? I know that you initially saw a big jump in FTP, but has that tapered off and if so at what point did you begin to see diminishing returns?


Well...I've followed the study protocol as close as possible on the individual workouts (i.e. 6-7 reps of 20s @ 170% of VO2Max ~= 2X FTP, 10s rest), but only followed the study protocol frequency (5-6X per week) on the first week.

After that, I discovered that I could do a Tabata workout ~20 minutes prior to another "intensity" workout (such as our Tues. lunchtime "hammerfest") or the weekly crit practice and really bury myself with intensity that way ;-) Combining workouts like that necessitated that I reduce the frequency to only ~3X per week in order to stay reasonably "fresh" and be able to complete them in following workouts.

After an additional 2-3 weeks of that, I had basically bounced back FTP-wise to close to where I was just prior to getting sick and having the forced ~5weeks completely off the bike...not too bad of a recovery, huh?

Anyway...at that point I was still working out some issues with saddles and came down with another stomach virus and felt like I was possibly relapsing on the prostate condition, so I backed off on the intensity for ~1 week. Since that time, I've done the Tabatas sporadically (more like 1-2X per week) and just this past Sunday I set a 5 minute average power high FOR THE YEAR during the "worlds" ride...and I didn't feel particularly "on the rivet" during that portion of the ride.

Anyway...I'm not sure if that helps, but my non-scientific impression from all of this is that they can be a great tool for either bouncing back from a forced layoff, or to add an extra sharp "edge" to the blade when looking to peak. If anything, they really "recalibrate" your PE and "suffering tolerance" :thumb:

Make sense?

I'm thinking I will use these to help my recovery. I'll give myself a month or so to get use to the bike and then maybe a good dosing of tabatas.

I'm thinking I will use these to help my recovery. I'll give myself a month or so to get use to the bike and then maybe a good dosing of tabatas.

Yes...I left that part out above. After being completely off the bike, I first just did 1.5 to 2 weeks of JRA (just riding around) before starting in on the Tabatas...

I have done these for running and upper body circuit training for quite some time now. The results you get from them are incredible if you do them properly. I plan on doing these regularly on the bike before getting back into crits.

...Make sense?

Yes! Thanks!

i tried tabatas on the bike and found that it was safer to do these in an unused parking lot or something like that; going all out to exhaustion, listening for timers, gasping for air on the rests leaves little energy for avoiding traffic; i prefer off-bike tabatas; i'll get back to doing them when the weather turns chilly again; effective for self-punishment or adaptation to self-inflicted pain; i use the gymboss timer which i found after seeing them used in youtube demos of tabatas

i use the gymboss timer which i found after seeing them used in youtube demos of tabatas

How do you use this on the bike? Doesn't look like it will attach to your arm or the bars.

I did them periodically over the winter, and found that I was about as fast at the beginning of the season this year as I was at the end of the season last year, so I think they helped me stay "on form".

How do you use this on the bike? Doesn't look like it will attach to your arm or the bars.

clipped to jersey on shoulder near ear; wind noise makes hearing beep difficult; the clip is weak

mine must be broken because the 20 second timer seems a lot longer than it should and the 10 sec too short

i tried tabatas on the bike and found that it was safer to do these in an unused parking lot or something like that; going all out to exhaustion, listening for timers, gasping for air on the rests leaves little energy for avoiding traffic; i prefer off-bike tabatas; i'll get back to doing them when the weather turns chilly again; effective for self-punishment or adaptation to self-inflicted pain; i use the gymboss timer which i found after seeing them used in youtube demos of tabatas

An old school way of doing this workout on the road is to use phone poles. Find a flat stretch of road with poles on the side, work for 2 or 3 poles rest for 1 or 2. You don't have to mess with timers, ect. Might not be as precise but gets the same job done.

or just count to 20

flat? what is this "flat"?

count? when i can buy a gizmo to count for me? the gizmo made the routine more torturous for me; i use it on my kids sometimes <cue evil laugh with reverb and pipe organ>

mine must be broken because the 20 second timer seems a lot longer than it should and the 10 sec too short

Naah...it's not broken...you're just observing what a friend of mine calls "the Tabata time distortion effect" ;)

BTW, I just use the interval timer built into the Garmin 705...you even get 5s countdowns to the stops and starts :thumb:

Oh yeah...to the poster who suggested counting in your head. Yeah...right. You haven't tried these things, yet, huh? Heck, it's easy to lose count of just how many reps you've done when doing these things unless you have some sort of "monitor" or timer. Hypoxia will do that to ya...:D

Anyone have any experience doing these on the elliptical machine?

I'm thinking about it for this off season as I sorta dont mind the elliptical and I work in a gym, so convenience is high.

Should the positive effects of tabatas carry over to the bike, or does it seem like a waste of training time?

(I'll likely use them anyways to keep burning fat in the off season, but I'm still hoping to get some high end work off the bike this winter....)

thanks,

-L

Yeah, I forgot my computer one day and decided I'd just time them in my head. Uh-uh. No way. By the third one, I couldn't think about anything as complex as counting.

I think these will be great for maintaining fitness over the winter. I'm going to hit them up a few times a week when I can't get out and ride.

Running outside+tabata's on the trainer.

Cool.

Naah...it's not broken...you're just observing what a friend of mine calls "the Tabata time distortion effect" ;)

BTW, I just use the interval timer built into the Garmin 705...you even get 5s countdowns to the stops and starts :thumb:

Oh yeah...to the poster who suggested counting in your head. Yeah...right. You haven't tried these things, yet, huh? Heck, it's easy to lose count of just how many reps you've done when doing these things unless you have some sort of "monitor" or timer. Hypoxia will do that to ya...:D

I don't think I could count to 20, and keep track of number of reps. Not enough blood in my brain. I'll have to try the interval timer, using a 305 but I beleive it's the same setup. Havn't played around with that yet.

What kind of TSS scores are people getting for a Tabata workout? Does it even register?

I'm not too sure about the Tabata study results. They did the intervals 5 days a week for 7 weeks. They were probably active athletes but untrained cyclists.