The Study
Two Tabata cycles in a single training set maximize fat oxidation after exercise in male college students with overweight/obesity
This study watched how much fat people burned after doing different amounts of super-hard exercise, but it didn't randomly assign who did what — so we can't say one version definitely caused more fat burning. We can only say that in this group, two rounds seemed to burn the most fat after exercise.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study tested how many rounds of super-hard exercise (Tabata) help your body burn the most fat after you stop working out.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 554 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — you can burn more fat in just 8 minutes of intense exercise (2 cycles) than with longer or harder workouts, making it a time-efficient way to lose fat.
- 2After 2 rounds of Tabata, people burned 5.04 grams of fat in 30 minutes — more than after 1 round (4.41g) or 3 rounds (4.11g), even though all three burned the same total calories.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Scientific Reports
Year
2025
Authors
Zhuoyue Cheng, Lixia Liu, Yanbai Han, Hongli Wang, Yongbo Wang, Yiming Han
Related Content
Claims (6)
Among overweight and obese male university students, doing three Tabata intervals does not increase fat burning in the 20 to 30 minutes after exercise compared to doing two intervals, even though the total workout effort is higher.
In overweight and obese male university students, performing one, two, or three Tabata exercise cycles results in the same total energy expenditure, but fat burning differs between the cycles, showing that how efficiently fat is used does not depend on total calories burned.
In overweight and obese male university students, performing three Tabata cycling sessions instead of one reduces the amount of glucose burned during and after exercise, resulting in greater use of fat for energy.
In overweight and obese male university students aged 18–24, performing two Tabata cycles results in the highest rate of fat burning during the 20 to 30 minutes after exercise, and the total calories burned during the session are not significantly different from doing one or three cycles.
In overweight and obese male university students, the body burns fat at the highest rate 20 minutes after completing two Tabata exercise cycles, and this rate declines after that time.
Twenty to thirty minutes of high-intensity training leads to more fat loss than several hours of moderate-intensity cardio.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.