>Tabata workouts are 5 times more effective than traditional cardio workouts. sigh The Tabata protocol is nothing of the sort: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T

>Tabata workouts are 5 times more effective than traditional cardio workouts. sigh The Tabata protocol is nothing of the sort: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabata_protocol#Tabata_regimen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabata_protocol#Tabata_regimen The Tabata group had a 40% larger increase in VO2 max -- not five times as much! The now-famous 7-minute workout is based on the following article, which is a good article, from the American College of Sports Medicine: http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/fulltext/2013/05000/high_intensity_circuit_training_using_body_weight_.5.aspx http://journals.lww.com/acsm-healthfitness/fulltext/2013/050... It should be noted that, for individuals who have already achieved some degree of athleticism, the authors state clearly -- and this is never reproduced in pop journalism: > Total time for the entire circuit workout is approximately 7 minutes. The circuit can be repeated 2 to 3 times. Now, let's crunch some easy numbers for a second: there are 12 30-second intervals with 11 10-seconds rests between them, this is 7:50 min:sec, and with a short (~30s) break in between it's at least a 16 minute workout. Not seven. Though, personally, I've been doing it for a while, and the one circuit is still pretty tiring. I'm hoping to move up to two in a couple weeks or so, like, maybe. Ultimately, the time is the least of your concerns. High-intensity circuit training is hard: if you're motivated to do HICT, time will not bother you, believe me. The 4-minute version does not seem to have any scientific literature behind it -- if I had to guess, it's just six of the exercises from the 7-minute workout. I would also strongly suggest warming up before any sort of HIIT, because rhabdo is real and it's not a risk worth taking -- if you get dizzy, stop.