Development of an Exergame to Deliver a Sustained Dose of High-Intensity Training

A 6-week exploratory controlled trial designed to assess the fidelity of the game in terms of delivering the intended training stimulus and to examine the effect of the intervention on selected health outcomes was conducted. As appropriate for an exploratory trial, the investigators did not conduct formal sample size estimation a priori, rather the CIs would be used to inform future trials. A targeted recruitment approach at locations predominantly attended by men may facilitate uptake of participants was used. Therefore, to maximize recruitment within the intended population, relevant gatekeepers were approached at institutions positioned within regions of social deprivation. Thus, two settings used for recruitment and the trials were a social club and mosque, both situated within deprived regions of Middlesbrough, United Kingdom (TS1 and TS4). A total of 24 males were recruited into the trial (Figure 4) using relevant gatekeepers at institutions positioned within regions of social deprivation. Two recruitment drives (October 2014 and February 2015) took place, and these involved live demonstrations of the technology followed by word-of-mouth and snowballing approaches. The exergaming system was important in this recruitment process because it provided something tangible and interesting to engage potential participants.

A third-party minimization process using baseline measures of age, waist circumference, and predicted maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max) was used to remove bias in group allocation. The control group was instructed to maintain their current physical activity levels and inform the researchers should any changes arise during the intervention period. Overall retention to the intervention that encompassed baseline and follow-up measures was 87.5% (21/24).

To explore perceptions of the exergame and the HIT regime, semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 intervention participants following the 6-week training period, which were analyzed semantically. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Teesside University, United Kingdom, and written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Evidence recommends a minimum duration of 12 weeks for a HIT protocol to promote favorable changes in blood pressure and anthropometric measurements of obesity [35]. However, a 6-week intervention was selected, as a minimum of 13 sessions (0.16 work/rest ratio) is sufficient to elicit moderate improvements in VO2 max in sedentary individuals. Additionally, there is still ambiguity regarding the optimal work-to-rest ratio when designing HIT interventions, particularly in populations with varied age, baseline fitness, and training experience. Therefore, longer duration HIT models (1-4 min) were deemed unsuitable for the target population. Furthermore, minigames (such as the current exergame) have short life spans, where adherence to a longer intervention (eg, 12 weeks) may diminish over time and influence health outcomes. This was evident from a 12-week pilot study (unpublished data) using an exergame in the same population that saw attendance drop from 53% during week 2 to 16% during week 12.

Participants allocated to the intervention group were invited to attend three sessions of exergaming per week. At the beginning of the exergaming session, participants were required to complete a 6-min structured warm-up consisting of a series of exercises on a 210 mm step until both participants reached >70% HRmax. Session workloads with volumetric progression were set automatically once the user's identifying information was entered. The session workloads were 120-s, 150-s, and 180-s of work during weeks 1 and 2, weeks 3 and 4, and weeks 5 and 6, respectively.

To avoid staleness, the repetition lengths (10, 20, or 30-s) were randomly selected at the beginning of each round. The investigators set the work-to-rest ratio at 1:4, and thus, the respective repetitions were followed by 40, 80, or 120-s of active recovery. Participants were instructed to perform the repetitions at an intensity ≥85% HRmax. Each exergaming session took approximately 30 to 40 min to complete, including equipment set-up, warm-up with additional enjoyment, and task immersion questionnaires upon completion of the HIT bouts (not reported here). Heart rate responses were taken within repetitions and therefore, did not include any of the recovery period. This, therefore, avoided an overestimation of physiological load, which can occur when heart rate continues to rise after exercise cessation.