High-intensity interval training elicits more enjoyment and positive affective valence than moderate-intensity training over a 12-week intervention in overweight young women
Question
How do enjoyment and affective valence differ across repeated sprint training, two HIIT protocols, and moderate continuous training during a 12-week weight-control intervention?
Summary
Over 12 weeks in overweight young women, two cycling HIIT protocols produced more enjoyment than moderate continuous cycling, and the 90% VO2peak HIIT protocol had more positive affect than the 120% VO2peak protocol. All training was supervised, lab-based, and cycling-specific.
Methodology
- Overweight young women at a Chinese university
- 56 participants.
- Cycle ergometer.
- Work intervals: 4 min.
- Recovery: 3 min passive recovery.
- Intensity: 90% VO2peak.
- About 26 min exercise plus warm-up/cool-down.
- 3 to 4 sessions/week.
- 12 weeks.
- Four-arm randomized controlled intervention trial
- Exercise enjoyment, Affective valence, and VO2peak were tracked.
Outcomes
Enjoyment
Both HIIT protocols had higher enjoyment than MICT.
PACES: MICT 80.8 +/- 11.8, HIIT120 92.5 +/- 11.4, HIIT90 96.8 +/- 13.9; group-by-time p<0.001.
Affect
HIIT90 had more positive affect than HIIT120.
Feeling Scale HIIT90 1.5 +/- 1.4 versus HIIT120 0.2 +/- 1.2.
VO2peak
VO2peak increased in all four exercise groups.
Time p<0.001; group-by-time p=0.006.
Insights
- Enjoyment can be higher with HIIT than longer MICT in supervised cycling.
- A very hard interval prescription may reduce affect compared with a hard but lower-intensity prescription.
- Psychological response should be measured over repeated sessions, not only once.
Limitations
- Laboratory setting
- No follow-up of real-world exercise behavior
- Young overweight women only
- Cycling-only protocols
- High supervised compliance may not generalize
Safety
- No adverse events occurred.