Timer · preset of tabata timer
8 minute Tabata timer
Sixteen intervals of twenty on and ten off, run as one continuous block. Twice the length of the original, at the same relentless ratio.
Open the full tabata timer to change anything this preset fixes
The timer
- Intervals
- 16
Named stations appear on the clock as they come up. Leave it as it is to run one unnamed block.
The clock runs fullscreen and keeps the screen awake. It needs JavaScript, so with scripting off the plan below is the whole session written out.
- Total
- 8:00
- Working
- 5:20
- Periods
- 32
- 01ReadyGet ready0:10
- 02WorkWork0:20
- 03RestRest0:10
- 04WorkWork0:20
- 05RestRest0:10
- 06WorkWork0:20
- 07RestRest0:10
- 08WorkWork0:20
- 09RestRest0:10
- 10WorkWork0:20
- 11RestRest0:10
- 12WorkWork0:20
- 13RestRest0:10
- 14WorkWork0:20
- 15RestRest0:10
- 16WorkWork0:20
- 17RestRest0:10
- 18WorkWork0:20
- 19RestRest0:10
- 20WorkWork0:20
- 21RestRest0:10
- 22WorkWork0:20
- 23RestRest0:10
- 24WorkWork0:20
- 25RestRest0:10
- 26WorkWork0:20
- 27RestRest0:10
- 28WorkWork0:20
- 29RestRest0:10
- 30WorkWork0:20
- 31RestRest0:10
- 32WorkWork0:20
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0:00
How it works
Sixteen intervals of twenty on and ten off runs eight minutes without a break. The ratio is unchanged from the four minute block, so the recovery is still nowhere near complete, and the difference is entirely in how long you have to hold the pace.
That changes what the session trains. Four minutes rewards a very high effort; eight rewards an accurate one. The winning pace here is noticeably slower than the one that works for a single block.
Alternating two movements is the common way to run it. Squats and push-ups, or swings and mountain climbers, so each has a full sixty seconds between its own intervals even though the clock never stops.
If rounds twelve onward are much slower than the first four, the pace was wrong rather than the length. Run the same eight minutes slower next time before adding any rounds.
Questions
- Is this still Tabata?
- It uses the same twenty and ten intervals, run for twice as long. The protocol as published is four minutes, so treat this as a Tabata-style interval session rather than the protocol itself.
- Should I go as hard as a four minute block?
- No. Sixteen intervals at four minute pace ends around round ten. Pick an effort you can hold for the whole block and expect it to feel too easy for the first three rounds.
- One exercise or two?
- Two works well here. Alternating a lower body and an upper body movement lets each recover slightly while the other works, which is what makes sixteen rounds survivable.