# Acute physiological, perceived exertion and enjoyment responses during a 4-week basketball training: a small-sided game vs. high-intensity interval training

PMID: 37434880
Journal: Frontiers in Psychology
Published: 2023
Authors: Zeng J, Pojskic H, Xu J, Xu Y, Xu F

## Question

Do 4 weeks of basketball small-sided games and running-based HIIT differ in physiological load, perceived exertion, and enjoyment in female collegiate basketball players?

## Summary

In sub-elite female collegiate basketball players, 4 weeks of half-court 2v2 small-sided games produced similar heart-rate and exertion responses to duration-matched intermittent running HIIT, but players enjoyed the small-sided games more.

## Population

- Sub-elite female collegiate basketball players from one regional league team
- Sample size: 19
- Age: SSG 20.0 +/- 1.3 years; HIT 19.8 +/- 0.8 years
- Sex: Female
- Fitness level: Trained basketball players with about 5-6 years of training history and VO2max about 44 mL/kg/min
- Health status: Regular competitors without lower-limb injury or surgery in the prior 6 months

## Methodology

- Matched-group randomized parallel training study
- 4 weeks
- Female collegiate basketball preseason training
- Randomized and controlled study design.

## Protocol

- Running HIT.
- Modality: Intermittent shuttle running with 180-degree changes of direction.
- Work intervals: 15 seconds at 90-95% VIFT.
- Recovery: 15 seconds passive recovery while walking back to the start.
- Sets or repetitions: Progressive 15:15 repetitions; example figure caption reported 12 repetitions at 90% VIFT.
- Intensity: 90-95% VIFT; heart rate monitored.
- Session duration: Duration matched to the SSG sessions after a 15-minute standardized warm-up.
- Frequency: 3 sessions per week.
- Program length: 4 weeks.
- Progression: Progressive overload across the 4-week preseason block.
- 2v2 small-sided game.
- Modality: Half-court basketball small-sided games.
- Work intervals: Continuous 2:45-3:45 minute bouts.
- Recovery: 2 minutes passive recovery between bouts.
- Sets or repetitions: Progressive number and/or duration of bouts, duration matched with HIT.
- Intensity: Game-based effort with verbal encouragement; heart rate monitored.
- Session duration: Duration matched to HIT after the same 15-minute warm-up.
- Frequency: 3 sessions per week.
- Program length: 4 weeks.
- Progression: Progressive game duration/load across weeks.

## Outcomes

### Heart rate
Status: mixed
Heart-rate responses did not differ significantly between SSG and HIT, although SSG was below 90% HRmax during weeks 1 and 2.

No group x time interaction or group effect; time effects for HRmean p=0.004 and %HRmax p<0.001. SSG %HRmax was 87.8 +/- 2.2 in week 1 and 88.1 +/- 2.6 in week 2.

### RPE
Status: no clear change
Perceived exertion rose over time but did not differ between training modes.

No group x time interaction or main group effect; time effect p<0.001, partial eta squared=0.31.

### Enjoyment
Status: improved
Players reported higher enjoyment during SSG than HIT at every week.

Main group effect p<0.001, partial eta squared=0.44; weekly mean differences favored SSG by 7.70 to 11.06 points with p values from 0.03 to <0.001.

## Practical Insights

- Half-court 2v2 basketball games can produce internal load similar to running HIIT while improving enjoyment.
- For high-intensity targets, early SSG sessions may need rule constraints, encouragement, or sufficient duration to reach >90% HRmax.
- Game-based HIIT may be useful when adherence and athlete motivation matter.

## Limitations

- Small sample of sub-elite female players from one team.
- No blood lactate, biochemical markers, or external-load measures.
- Anonymous enjoyment ratings prevented individual RPE-enjoyment correlations.
- Motivational factors were not measured.

## Safety And Adherence

- Five participants were excluded from analysis because of more than two missed training sessions or lower-limb injuries; the NXML did not clearly attribute injuries to the interventions.

## Original Sources

- [PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37434880/) (pubmed)
- [DOI](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1181646) (doi)
- [PMC full text](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10332315/) (full text)

## Agent Guidance

Preserve the paper-level scope of this note. Do not generalize beyond the population, protocol, measured outcomes, and limitations above.