Perceptual Responses to High-Intensity Interval Training in Overweight and Sedentary Individuals

Contemporary aerobic exercise guidelines comprised of continuous durations and higher intensities have been shown to be effective in the prevention and treatment of risk factors associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, high-intensity interval training (HIIT) has recently been examined as an advantageous protocol for producing more favorable physiological and psychological benefits in comparison to traditional continuous exercise guidelines. The dual-mode model, which examines the dose response relationship between exercise intensity and affective valence, would suggest that exercise performed well above the ventilatory threshold (VT) in the severe domain should result in negative affective valence.\nNumerous investigations have confirmed the reliability of the dual-mode models ability to predict compromised affective valence in the presence of heavy to severe exercise intensities, but only a small amount of research has examined the efficacy of the dual-mode model during HIIT. However, no research to date has combined HIIT with the dual-mode model's efficacy to predict affective valence in target populations challenged by exercise adherence, such as overweight and sedentary individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the dual-mode model's reliability to predict affective valence for overweight and sedentary individuals performing HIIT.\nA total of 14 participants (7 male, 7 female) with a mean age of 23 ±; 4 (range = 18-33) and mean BMI of 29 ±; 3 (range = 25-33) completed the study. Each participant completed a ramp maximal exercise test to determine VT and peak power data, which allowed for specific exercise intensities of delta (DT) to be prescribed for experimental trials. Participants were low to moderate risk. The four experimental conditions were all matched for total work: 1) continuous at 10% DT (Continuous-Heavy - CH), 2) 24 times 30-second intervals at 60% DT (Interval-Severe 30 Second - IS30), 3) 12 times 60-second intervals at 60% DT (Interval-Severe 60 Second - IS60), 4) 6 times 120-second intervals at 60% DT (Interval-Severe 120 Second - IS120). The continuous exercise condition was 20 minutes in duration, whereas all interval exercise conditions were 24 minutes in duration.\nResults indicated that in-task perceptual responses defined, as affective valence and perceived enjoyment were overall more favorable during IS30 and IS60 in comparison to CH and IS120. IS30 was the only experimental condition in which affective valence did not decline significantly (p > 0.05). Ratings of perceived enjoyment were greater at all measured time points during IS60 (p < 0.05) in comparison to CH. The findings of this study suggest that HIIT comprised of 30 and or 60 seconds help to facilitate more favorable perceptual responses of affective valence and perceived enjoyment than continuous exercise and intervals of longer than 60 seconds duration.