Abstract
ObjectiveHigh intensity interval exercise sessions with interval sets over 3 min may provide superior cardiorespiratory fitness benefits. To our knowledge, the exercise enjoyment of interval sets over 3 min is not yet elucidated. The aim of this study was to examine exercise enjoyment following one session with four intervals of 4 min high intensity exercise (HIIE) versus one session of 45 min moderate intensity continuous exercise (CE) in iso-caloric conditions using a randomized crossover design.MethodsSeven young healthy participants were recruited to undergo two different exercise sessions in a randomized order: (1) 4 × 4 min intervals at >90% of maximum heart rate (HRmax) with 3 min of rest between interval sets, and (2) 45 min CE at 70% of HRmax. Peak oxygen uptake and HRmax were evaluated prior to the experiment. The participants reported their perceived exercise enjoyment using the 18-item physical activity enjoyment scale (PACES) questionnaire and their rating of perceived exertion (RPE) using Borg’s 6–20 scale.ResultsThere was no difference in the PACES score between the high intensity interval exercise session [median: 95.5 (inter-quartile range: 21.8)] and the moderate intensity CE session [91.0 (13.5), p = 0.36, r = −0.22]. The participants reported a higher RPE in the high intensity interval exercise session [16.5 (2.0)] compared with the CE session [9.0 (2.0), p = 0.01, r = −0.88].ConclusionSimilar exercise enjoyment was reported following four high intensity intervals of 4 min compared with a moderate intensity CE session in this randomized crossover study with iso-caloric conditions. If enjoyment is a mediating factor for engaging in exercise, one should expect a similar probability of exercise adherence following high intensity 4 min intervals and continuous moderate intensity exercise when prescribing aerobic exercise as preventive medicine.
Highlights
High intensity interval exercise sessions seem to provide superior cardiorespiratory fitness improvements compared with continuous exercise (CE) (Bacon et al, 2013); exercise of this format and intensity seems applicable for both health improvements and exercise adherence
Not always consistent (Oliveira et al, 2013; Martinez et al, 2015; Decker and Ekkekakis, 2017), the exercise enjoyment measured with the physical activity enjoyment scale (PACES) questionnaire (Kendzierski and DeCarlo, 1991) is usually reported to be higher following high intensity interval exercise compared with moderate intensity CE (Oliveira et al, 2018)
There were no differences in PACES scores between “during” and “after” in either the high intensity interval exercise session (p = 0.24, r = −0.45) or the moderate intensity continuous session (p = 0.30, r = −0.38)
Summary
Aerobic exercise is an effective means for improving cardiorespiratory fitness (Bacon et al, 2013), preventing premature mortality (Blair et al, 1995; Myers et al, 2002; Lear et al, 2017), and preventing and rehabilitating from various health conditions and diseases (Blair et al, 1995; Lee et al, 1995; Kruk, 2007; Pedersen and Saltin, 2015), adherence to exercise programs is low and seems to be dependent on multiple personal and demographic factors (Leslie et al, 1999; Stutts, 2002; Trost et al, 2002; Sequeira et al, 2011; Picorelli et al, 2014). Multiple high intensity interval exercise session designs are found in the studies investigating exercise enjoyment (Oliveira et al, 2018), which limits their comparability These differences include variations in interval duration, ranging from seconds (Price and Moss, 2007; Wiewelhove et al, 2016; Warr-di Piero et al, 2018), to 1 min (Jung et al, 2014; Heisz et al, 2016) and bouts of up to 3 min (Bartlett et al, 2011; Decker and Ekkekakis, 2017); a previous study reported that longer interval sets are less enjoyable compared with those of shorter durations (Martinez et al, 2015)
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