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Home / American Journal of Health Behavior, Volume 42, Number 2

Variability in Intensity Related to Increased Overall Bout Intensity

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Objective: We examined the relationship between variability in self-regulated exercise intensity and overall intensity during acute exercise. Methods: Overall, 32 participants (age; 20±4y, body mass index (BMI) 24.1±3.6 kg/m2) completed a 30-minute self-regulated treadmill exercise bout. Participants were blinded to treadmill settings and adjusted speed and incline every 5-minutes as desired. Results: Variability in exercise intensity (metabolic equivalent standard deviation (METSD)) was positively correlated with (r = .567, p = .001) and explained a significant portion of the overall exercise intensity (ß = .574, t = 3.713, p = .001). When accounting for physiological variables, METSD (ß = .381, t = 2.242, p = .034) and VO2peak (ß = .575, t = 2.864, p = .008) predicted overall intensity. When controlling for physiological and psychological variables, in addition to METSD (ß = .388), tolerance for exercise intensity (ß = 3.124) became a significant predictor of overall bout intensity (p < .05). Conclusions: In-task variability in exercise intensity was posi- tively related to the average intensity of the bout. Future studies should explore the utility of explicitly encouraging individuals to incorporate intra-bout variety for increasing the exercise dose while maintaining a degree of autonomy.

Keywords: AEROBIC; EXERCISE; HIERARCHICAL REGRESSION; SELF-PACED; WITHIN-BOUT VARIETY

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 2: Department of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

Publication date: 01 March 2018

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  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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