Program Evaluation and Preliminary Efficacy of Fitness and Skill-Based High-Intensity Interval Training in Physical Education

ABSTRACT

Previous school-based high-intensity interval training (HIIT) interventions have focused on the quantity of physical activity (PA) achieved during physical education (PE) rather than students’ PE experiences, including enjoyment. Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of a fitness- and skill based HIIT intervention guided by the Self Determination Theory. Method: For this pretest-posttest randomized controlled 6-week pilot study, 4–5^th grade students (15 boys, 30 girls; age = 10.5 ± 0.9 years) completed a 16–19-minute HIIT circuit (INT); whereas, 22 students (10 boys, 12 girls; age = 10.5 ± 0.9 years) engaged in regular PE (CON). Two-way mixed ANCOVA tests were performed to assess preliminary efficacy. Results: Participants reported favorable program satisfaction (mean 3.6 ± 1.5 out of 5). The physical educator reported a high feasibility survey score (31/35), and themes emerging from a program acceptability interview included positive perceptions of the HIIT program and strategies for future implementation. A large effect size was evident for cardiorespiratory fitness (ηp² = 0.26), as VO_2peak increased in INT from 53.6 ± 6.1 to 56.9 ± 7.3 ml/kg/min and decreased in CON (53.9 ± 7.0 to 52.4 ± 10.4 ml/kg/min). Students in INT exhibited greater amounts of moderate-to-vigorous PA and vigorous PA during PE versus CON, based on accelerometer data (23.4 ± 5.0 vs. 15.7 ± 4.7 min/hr, ηp² = 0.45; 4.5 ± 2.6 vs. 2.3 ± 1.3 min/hr; ηp² = 0.27, respectively). Conclusions: Findings support the feasibility of this fitness- and skill-based HIIT program and may be a valuable addition to elementary school PE programs.

KEYWORDS:

• Cardiorespiratory fitness
• elementary school
• muscular fitness
• physical activity

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all research assistants for their contribution to data collection and data entry. We would also like to acknowledge the physical educator and her students for their participation in our study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

IRB approval

Ethical approval was obtained by the elementary school district and Michigan State University’s Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Student Grant funding from the Midwest American College of Sports Medicine in the amount of $500.00;Midwest Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine;