None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, imposing a huge financial burden of approximately $7.9 billion of health care cost in Australia alone. Exercise-induced improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness has repeatedly been demonstrated to be a powerful antidote against CVD risk factors including abnormal blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity, and impaired vascular structure and function. However, adherence to regular exercise has proven to be difficult for the majority of the population, primarily due to either lack of time, motivation, or enjoyment. Previous investigations have demonstrated that ‘interval training’, characterized by repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise, interspersed with recovery periods, is a potent exercise strategy to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health factors. The popularity of interval training comes from the significantly lower weekly time commitment required relative to the current exercise guideline of moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT). Interval training has also been reported to promote better exercise adherence and enjoyment compared to MICT. However, the long-term adherence of the general population to this type of exercise remains questionable, considering that the majority of studies thus far have only been conducted over a short-term period, usually only up to 6 months and typically in athletes and regular exercisers. Interestingly, participation in sporting activities has recently been reported to be associated with increased long-term exercise adherence, perhaps due to increased motivation to compete in or complete a sporting event. In particular, the popularity of marathon running among the general population has increased steadily over time, specifically in individuals pursuing the reported health benefits of regular exercise. The majority of these recreational marathon runners usually engage in several months of daily aerobic exercise, with the goal of safely completing the race event. This so called ‘recreational marathon training’ has also been demonstrated to have favourable effects on CVD risk factors.The primary aims of this study is to therefore investigate the impact of ‘marathon training’ compared to ‘interval training’ on short- and long-term exercise adherence and compliance.We hypothesise that marathon training will induce better short- and long-term exercise adherence and compliance relative to interval training.
Interventions
This trial will consist of two phases. The first phase will require the participants to attend three supervised training sessions per week for 32 weeks. Participants will then enter the second phase of the trial and will continue with the same exercise program from Phase 1, but in an unsupervised manner until the 52-week follow-up. The participants will be tested at baseline and after 16 weeks, 32 weeks, and 52 weeks follow-up. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants befo
This trial will consist of two phases. The first phase will require the participants to attend three supervised training sessions per week for 32 weeks. Participants will then enter the second phase of the trial and will continue with the same exercise program from Phase 1, but in an unsupervised manner until the 52-week follow-up. The participants will be tested at baseline and after 16 weeks, 32 weeks, and 52 weeks follow-up. Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants before inclusion. All participants will receive verbal and written information about their exercise training intervention. The study will consist of 2 intervention groups; 1) marathon training and 2) interval training. All supervised exercise sessions during Phase 1 will be supervised by a qualified exercise professional at His&HerTime Fitness Club, with over 11 years of experience conducting similar exercise programs. Phase 2 will be performed in an unsupervised environment. Exercise heart rate (HR), RPE, volume (distance/week and hours/week) during both Phases will be monitored and recorded. HR and RPE will be monitored via a HR monitor (Polar Electro, Kempele, Finland) and the Borg 6-20 RPE scale, respectively. A training log will be provided to all participants to record HR and RPE attained during the unsupervised sessions. Marathon Training The participants in the marathon training group will be required to exercise for an hour per session (including rest periods between exercise types within the circuit based training) at 85-95% peak heart rate (HRpeak) or RPE of 15-17, three times per week (with at least a day between sessions) for 52 weeks. Supervised exercise sessions will consist of a mix of circuit based training (ie fitness and light weight training) and a jogging program.
Sponsors
Flinders University
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Prevention
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 74 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion Criteria: The participants have to: • be > 18 and < 75 yrs of age. • be willing to participate in either of the exercise programs (marathon training or interval training) • undergo a pre-exercise screening evaluation according to the Australian Pre-exercise Screening System (APSS) (SMA 2005) and cleared to undertake either exercise program • recreational runners/exercisers who do not compete in events or have not run in a marathon/half-marathon in the past 12 months.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: • They have been competing or training regularly for 12 months or more; or (b) they have been sent for medical clearance, based on the APSS screening guidelines, and clearance to participate is not provided.
Outcome results
None listed