Age-specific affective responses and self-efficacy to acute high-intensity interval training and continuous exercise in insufficiently active young and middle-aged men

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) has been recognized as an emerging trend in public health promotion, but its age-specific differences in psycho-perceptual responses have yet to be investigated. This study compared the psycho-perceptual responses after a single session of HIIT versus moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) and vigorous-intensity continuous exercise (VICE) in twelve young and twelve middle-aged insufficiently active males respectively. METHODS: Using a randomized cross-over design, participants undertook three main trials consisting of: HIIT (10 x 1-min run at 100% VO(2max) interspersed with 1-min active recovery), MICE (40-min run at 65% VO(2max)) and VICE (20-min run at 80% VO(2max)). Affective responses, self-efficacy and exercise preference were assessed for each trial. RESULTS: Both HIIT and VICE showed more positive in-task affective responses than MICE in young adults, while middle-aged adults reported more positive responses in both HIIT and MICE than in VICE. However, middle-aged adults displayed significantly lower exercise task self-efficacy scores towards HIIT (42.7 ± 25.3) and VICE (49.2 ± 23.9) than MICE (63.4 ± 18.3, both P < 0.01). Additionally, only 17% of participants in the middle-aged group reported a preference to engage in HIIT as opposed to either MICE (50%) and VICE (33%). CONCLUSION: Our finding revealed distinct affective and self-efficacy responses to acute HIIT versus both MICE and VICE in the two age groups which assists in our understanding of how individuals in various age populations perceive HIIT. This information will assist in the design and implementation of effective exercise programs for public health, especially for insufficiently active individuals.