Izumi Tabata


Izumi Tabata is dean of the Ritsumeikan University Graduate School of Sport and Health Science. His name became famous in relation to the "Tabata Protocol", one form of high-intensity interval training, although Dr. Tabata credits Olympic speed skating coach Irisawa Koichi with pioneering the technique.
Dr. Tabata was educated in Japan, Norway, and studied for a year at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to his tenure at Ritsumeikan University, he worked at the National Institute for Health and Nutrition in Japan, and with the Japanese speed skating team.
Dr. Tabata has contributed to many highly cited articles, and in 2015 had an h-index of 27, according to Scopus. His most famous article published the results of the protocol used by the Japanese speed skating team, "Effects of moderate-intensity endurance and high-intensity intermittent training on anaerobic capacity and VO", published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 1996. The article has been cited over 600 times, according to Google Scholar. Dr. Tabata has authored or co-authored over 100 additional scholarly articles in publications such as Journal of Applied Physiology, Japanese Journal of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine, Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and European Journal of Applied Physiology.

Commercial involvement

In February 2013～2016.12, Universal Pictures and Dr. Tabata jointly licensed a high-intensity exercise program trademarked as Tabata, based around 20 seconds of intense exercise and 10 seconds of rest.