Cancer Survivors Report Positive Affect during High-Intensity Group Based Exercise

Abstract

PURPOSE: In rehabilitating populations, concerns arise with sustaining and adhering to popular group exercise programs of increased intensity due to the physically demanding requirements. Positive affect values like pleasure improve the likelihood of engaging in exercise behaviors. High-intensity functional training (HIFT) is a group-based exercise method of combined aerobic and resistance training functional exercises completed at relative high intensities. This study investigated effects of a HIFT program on cancer survivors’ perceptions of pleasure to predict efficacy and adherence. METHODS: Eight cancer survivors (53.5±5.0y, 75% female) participated in a 5-week, 3 days/week HIFT intervention, consisting of 12 workouts (WODS). For three pre-selected WODs, participants self-reported changes in mood/pleasure via the Feeling Scale (FS) from -5 (very bad) to +5 (very good); arousal via the Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) from 1 (very lowly) through 6 (very highly) aroused; and Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) via the Borg scale from 6 (resting) to 20 (maximal) at 6 times (after the warm-up, after ¼, ½, and ¾ of the WOD, immediately after the WOD, and after cool-down). Heart rate (HR) was assessed with Polar Pro-trainers throughout. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to examine within-measurement differences over time. Correlation analysis was used to compare RPE and HR for 2 exercise sessions. RESULTS: Average FS ratings ranged 1.3 to 3.4 indicating that mood remained positive throughout the session. Average RPE peaked immediately after the WOD and ranged from 6.9 to 15.5. Average predicted HRmax% for age was 80.2+/- 0.9 % throughout the WOD. There was main effect for changes in FAS over time, F(2,1)=16.0, p<.001, where the first measurement was significantly lower than all following measurements. There were significant main effects for changes in RPE, F(2,1)=43.2, p<.001, and HR, F(5,1)=74.8, p<.001, over time. Both were positively correlated, r=.97, p=.001 and had significantly greater values during the WOD than warm-up or cool-down. CONCLUSIONS: Improved FS during HIFT contrasts with previous research showing that pleasure decreases as physiological work demands reach high intensity. These data show that cancer survivors can sustain and even find high intensity exercise enjoyable.