Has anyone here tried this? It sounds pretty good and seems suited to MMA since it alternates short bursts of intense activity (of large muscles groups) with even shorter rest periods.

For anyone unfamiliar with the concept it is pretty basic:

20 seconds all out
10 seconds rest

8 sets of this for a total of 4 minutes.

Many exercises can be adapted to this method as long as they employ large muscles groups (as many as possible).

Sounds pretty close to Martin Rooney's "Huricane Training". Wich is my favorite conditioning regiment BTW.

Don't neglect your base cardio though. Tabata is all about all out exersion then complete rest. I am a huge fan of sprint routines. But I am also a huge fan of long drawn out grueling medium paced routines. I find a happy medium in doing 5x5min rounds w/ 1min rest by rotating high exersion all out sprints followed by steady slower paced activity. Something like 1min sledge hammers followed by 1 min heavy bag carries then 30 seconds punching bag sprints folowed by 1.5min burpees then 50 meter sprints down the course then some form of exagerate movement exercise back (goose stepps, high knees, bear crawl, crab walk).

Tabata works fantastically to improve lung capacity. i did it before and after my standard training when i was training for a fight. the exercise i chose and liked very much was to get on a treadmill that is turned off, raise it to the highest incline, and sprint as hard as you can using your leg muscles to move the belt. it is freakin grueling! after about a week i noticed an insane difference in cardio and lung capacity. oh, it helps a lot if you have someone to tell you when to go and stop, and to motivate you.