Effect of Sprint Interval Training Frequency on Improvements in Fitness

Effect of Sprint Interval Training Frequency on Cardiorespiratory Fitness Adaptations

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Cardiorespiratory Fitness
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Exercise Intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Tom J Hazell, PhD; Phone Number: 5488893902; Email: thazell@wlu.ca

Study Locations

• Canada
  • Ontario
    • Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3C5
      • Recruiting
      • Wilfrid Laurier University
      • Contact: Tom J Hazell, PhD; Phone Number: 548-889-3902; Email: thazell@wlu.ca

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

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

What is the study measuring?

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).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Wilfrid Laurier University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Tom J Hazell, PhD, Wilfrid Laurier University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): November 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2024
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: November 15, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 15, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): November 22, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): November 27, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 21, 2023
• Last Verified: November 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: maximal oxygen consumption; training intervention; sprint interval training
• Other Study ID Numbers: EMRL-23-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED
• IPD Plan Description: Data will be made available to other researchers upon reasonable request.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No