Mediating Effect of Motivation on the Relationship of Fitness with Volitional High-Intensity Exercise in High-School Students

We aimed to investigate the relationship between physical fitness and motivation in adolescents and analyze if the associations of physical fitness with volitional exercise intensity in adolescents are mediated by motivation. The participants were 108 adolescents (58 girls 16.0 ± 0.92 years). Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was assessed using the Yo-YoITL1, and the push-up test was used to evaluate strength. Body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis. The intervention was applied in the first 10–15 min of each Physical Education class (PEC), twice a week, for 16 weeks and ranged from 14 to 20 all-out bouts intervals, adopting a 2:1 work to rest ratio. A cut-point of ≥90% of the maximal heart rate (HR) was used as a criterion for satisfactory compliance with high-intensity exercise. Volition intensity was assessed through a forearm wearable plethysmography heart rate sensor to ensure compliance with the exercise stimulus at the predetermined target HR zone. Motivation was estimated with a validated questionnaire (BREQ-3). Mediation effects were estimated using bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals and were deemed significant if zero was not included in the intervals, and values below 0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. The mediation analysis revealed a non-significant indirect effect of physical fitness through motivation on exercise intensity, specifically on CRF (B = −0.0355, 95% BootCI [−0.5838; 0.4559]), muscular fitness (B = −0.7284, 95% BootCI [−2.0272; 0.2219]) and body fat (B = 0.5092, 95% BootCI [−0.4756; 1.6934]). These results suggest that high or low values of motivation did not increase or decrease volitional high-intensity exercise, and lower levels of fitness (CRF, muscular and body fat) were associated with higher volitional exercise intensity. These findings highlight the need for regular moderate-to-vigorous physical exercise for maintaining or improving physical fitness, regardless of motivation regulations, and emphasize the importance of new strategies in PEC with acute vigorous-intensity activities that retain the health-enhancing effects.