regimen A version of HIIT was based on a 1996 study by Ritsumeikan University Professor Izumi Tabata (田畑泉) et al. initially involving Olympic speedskaters. The study used 20 seconds of ultra-intense exercise (at an intensity of about 170% of VO2max) followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated continuously for 4 minutes (8 cycles). The exercise was performed on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer. Tabata called this the IE1 protocol. In the original study, athletes using this method trained 4 times per week, plus another day of steady-state training, for 6 weeks and obtained gains similar to a group of athletes who did steady state training (70% VO2max) 5 times per week. The steady state group had a higher VO2max at the end (from 52 to 57 mL/(kg•min)). However the Tabata group had achieved comparable aerobic improvements but only exercised 4 minutes per day on their 4 HIIT days compared to 60 minutes for the aerobic group. The Tabata group also started lower and gained more overall (from 48 to 55 mL/(kg•min)). Also, only the Tabata group had gained anaerobic capacity benefits. (As Tabata's protocol is "supermaximal", his regimen technically falls into the scope of SIT.) Gibala regimen Professor Martin Gibala and his team at McMaster University in Canada have been researching high-intensity exercise for several years. Their 2010 study on students uses 3 minutes for warming up, then 60 seconds of intense exercise (at 95% of VO2max) followed by 75 seconds of rest, repeated for 8–12 cycles (sometimes referred to as "The Little Method"). Subjects using this method training 3 times per week obtained gains similar to what would be expected from subjects who did steady-state (50–70% VO2max) training five times per week. While still a demanding form of training, the general public could use this exercise protocol with nothing more than an average exercise bike. Gibala's group published a less intense version of their regimen in a 2011 paper in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. This was intended as a gentler option for sedentary people who had done no exercise for over a year. It included 3 minutes of warm-up, 10 repetitions of 60-second bursts at 60% peak power (80–95% of heart rate reserve) each followed by 60 seconds of recovery, and then a 5-minute cool-down. Zuniga regimen Jorge Zuniga, assistant professor of exercise science at Creighton University, set out to determine how to fit the highest