No, tabatas aren't a new Mexican dish. It's an exercise format that consists of 20 seconds of effort followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes of exercise time.
Tonight I mixed some tabatas into my workout for a little variety.
Round 1: 4:00 tabatas of each exercise
Round 2: 3 Sets of each exercise (max reps each set)
Result
Wow, those tabatas really take a toll. By the end of each tabata set the muscle was pretty toast. Luckily I had some recovery time (due to the next set of tabatas) to get ready for Round 2.