Effect of Sprint Interval Training Frequency on Improvements in Fitness

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The goal of this study is to learn how the number of weekly exercise sessions affects improvements in fitness in healthy university aged students. The main question it aims to answer is how training frequency affects improvements in fitness. Participants will complete a pre-testing sessions to assess fitness level and sprint performance. Following this participants are assigned to one of four groups. A group that exercises 2 days a week, a group that trains 3 days a week, a group that trains 4 days a week, or a no-exercise control group. Participants in this group will not complete any training and allow the researchers to compare the exercise groups to a group that didn't train. Each participant will train for 4 weeks. During each training session participants will complete 4-6 30 second all-out sprints with 4 minutes of rest between each. Participants will complete the same tests they did during the pre-testing session following the 4 weeks of training to see how frequency affects improvements.

Official Title
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Effect of Sprint Interval Training Frequency on Cardiorespiratory Fitness Adaptations

Conditions
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Cardiorespiratory Fitness

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Exercise Intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Recreationally active: exercising at least 2-3 days per week and not currently involved in, or had been involved in a systematic training program for at least 3 months prior to data collection. Safe to become physically active based on the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology - Get Active Questionnaire. Exclusion Criteria: Smoking Consuming supplements known to affect metabolism (e.g., creatine, carnitine, nitric oxide, brain chain amino acids). Failure to meet inclusion criteria

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 35 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: Following pre-testing participants are assigned to one of the four groups based on their baseline cardiorespiratory fitness to ensure no differences between groups at baseline. Participants will train 2, 3, or 4 days a week, or be assigned to the control group (no training) and re-test following the 4 week intervention.
Masking: Single


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: 2 days per week group<br>Participants in this group complete 2 training sessions each week (Monday and Thursday). | Other: Exercise Intervention<br>* Participants will complete an exercise intervention where they will exercise 2, 3, or 4 days per week for 4 weeks.<br>|
| Experimental: 3 days per week group<br>Participants in this group complete 3 training sessions each week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). | Other: Exercise Intervention<br>* Participants will complete an exercise intervention where they will exercise 2, 3, or 4 days per week for 4 weeks.<br>|
| Experimental: 4 days per week group<br>Participants in this group complete 4 training sessions each week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday). | Other: Exercise Intervention<br>* Participants will complete an exercise intervention where they will exercise 2, 3, or 4 days per week for 4 weeks.<br>|
| No Intervention: No-exercise Control group<br>This group does not complete any training intervention. They are asked to maintain their regular physical activity habits. | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cardiorespiratory fitness | Cardiorespiratory fitness will be assessed through the measurement of maximal oxygen consumption. This will be determined using an incremental exercise test to volitional fatigue on a treadmill. A metabolic cart will be used to assess oxygen consumption using indirect calorimetry | This will be assessed before and after 4 weeks of training (or control). | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Anaerobic performance | Anaerobic performance will be assessed during one 30 second all-out sprint completed on a self-propelled treadmill. Participants will be instructed to run as fast and as hard as they can for the entire 30 seconds. Speed will be recorded during this sprint and used to determine, peak, average, and minimum speed, as well as fatigue index. | This will be assessed before and after 4 weeks of training (or control). | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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sprint interval training, maximal oxygen consumption, training intervention