Tabata timer
Twenty seconds of work, ten of rest, eight times. Four minutes in all — and far longer than that sounds.
START A TABATA20 / 10 × 8, already set up. Nothing to configure, nothing to install.
What is a Tabata?
A Tabata is a very short interval set at a 2:1 ratio: twenty seconds of work, ten seconds of rest, repeated eight times. Eight rounds of thirty seconds is exactly four minutes.
It is named after Izumi Tabata, whose team published the protocol in 1996 after testing it on Japanese speed skaters. The result that made it famous: four minutes of this protocol improved anaerobic capacity more than an hour of steady moderate work.
What the study actually said
The original protocol was done on a cycle ergometer at roughly 170% of VO₂max — an intensity most people cannot reach, let alone hold eight times.
The subjects were trained athletes, and the protocol was run four times a week alongside other training.
In other words: "Tabata" today names a timer format, not the study. Twenty seconds of air squats followed by ten of rest is an excellent exercise — it simply is not the published protocol, and you should not expect the same results from it. Knowing that saves the disappointment.
Three Tabatas that work
The classic
A single movement held for eight rounds: burpees, squat jumps, or mountain climbers.
The hardest, because there is nowhere to hide. Also the closest to the original spirit.
The alternating
Two movements in alternation: squats on odd rounds, push-ups on even ones.
Four rounds of each. More sustainable, and more complete.
The cardio
Rower, bike or jump rope, flat out for the twenty seconds.
The closest to the published protocol, and the least technically punishing.
The common mistakes
Starting too hard
The first three rounds are easy for everybody. The format is decided between the fifth and the eighth: if you cannot move by round six, the opening intensity was badly chosen.
Chaining four Tabatas
Common in classes, and no longer the protocol. That one assumes an intensity close to maximum, unsustainable past four minutes. Chaining four Tabatas amounts to sixteen minutes of moderate interval work — a perfectly valid exercise, but not this one.
Skipping the warm-up
Four minutes sounds negligible, which invites starting cold. A near-maximal effort from the twentieth second on unprepared muscles is exactly how you get hurt on a "short" session.
Counting ten seconds in your head
A ten-second rest cannot be counted mentally while out of breath: you take fifteen, then twenty, and the 2:1 ratio is gone by the fourth round.
The timer
Round & Rest changes the colour of the whole screen at each phase — red on work, blue on rest — with ultra-bold white digits. On a Tabata that matters: at twenty seconds a phase you have no time to hunt for the clock, and you are rarely in a position to read closely.
Three sound cues in all: a countdown over the last seconds of preparation, one at the start of each effort, one at the end. The app works offline, installs on your phone, and shows no ads.
START A TABATAFour minutes. Warm up first.