Effects of low intensity interval training on physiological variables of university students

Abstract

Background and Study Aim. This study was to investigate the effects of low-intensity interval training on the physiological variables of university students.
 Material and Methods. Forty male sports science students aged 18-25 years were randomly assigned to the Experimental group (n=20) and the Control group (n=20). The Experimental group underwent low-intensity interval training for eight weeks, whereas the Control group did not. Measurements of physiological variables such as resting heart rate, respiratory rate, recovery heart rate, breath-hold time, maximal oxygen uptake, and blood pressure were obtained for all subjects before and after the intervention. To compare the mean physiological variables between the experimental and control groups, an independent samples t-test was used.
 Results. Statistical significance was set at p 0.05. After the training intervention, the experimental group showed significantly better improvements than the control group in resting heart rate, respiratory rate, recovery heart rate, breath-holding time, maximal oxygen uptake, and blood pressure (p 0.05). Post intervention maximum oxygen uptake was statistically significant with t (38) = 3.086, p value 0.004. Post experiment systolic blood pressure was statistically significant with t (38) = -2.405, p value 0.021 for low intensity interval training and control group. Post experiment diastolic blood pressure was statistically highly significant with t (38) = 0.569, p value 0.001 for low intensity interval training and control group. The result of the study showed that there was a significant difference in post rest heart rate, respiratory rate, recovery heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, breath holding and maximal oxygen uptake between the low intensity interval training and the control group (p 0.05).
 Conclusions. Thus, it was concluded that eight weeks of low-intensity interval training show significant improvement in physiological variables of university students.