Enjoyment for High-Intensity Interval Exercise Increases during the First Six Weeks of Training: Implications for Promoting Exercise Adherence in Sedentary Adults

This is the first study to show that enjoyment for high-intensity interval exercise increases with chronic training. Prior acute studies typically report high-intensity interval training (HIT) as being more enjoyable than moderate continuous training (MCT) unless the high-intensity intervals are too...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2016-12, Vol.11 (12), p.e0168534-e0168534
Main Authors: Heisz, Jennifer J, Tejada, Mary Grace M, Paolucci, Emily M, Muir, Cameron
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adults
Analysis
Biology and Life Sciences
Exercise
Female
Happiness
Health aspects
Health Promotion
High intensity interval training
Hormones
Humans
Kinesiology
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metabolism
Oxygen Consumption
Patient Compliance
People and Places
Physical Endurance
Physical Exertion
Physical fitness
Physical Sciences
Physiology
Pleasure
Research and Analysis Methods
Sedentary behavior
Sedentary Lifestyle
Strength training
Training
Young Adult
Young adults
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Summary:This is the first study to show that enjoyment for high-intensity interval exercise increases with chronic training. Prior acute studies typically report high-intensity interval training (HIT) as being more enjoyable than moderate continuous training (MCT) unless the high-intensity intervals are too strenuous or difficult to complete. It follows that exercise competency may be a critical factor contributing to the enjoyment of HIT, and therefore building competency through chronic training may be one way to increase its enjoyment. To test this, we randomly assigned sedentary young adults to six weeks of HIT or MCT, and tracked changes in their enjoyment for the exercise. Enjoyment for HIT increased with training whereas enjoyment for MCT remained constant and lower. Changes in exercise enjoyment were predicted by increases in workload, suggesting that strength adaptions may be important for promoting exercise enjoyment. The results point to HIT as a promising protocol for promoting exercise enjoyment and adherence in sedentary young adults.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0168534