Psychological responses to HIIT and MICT over a 2-week progressive randomized trial among individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this secondary analysis study was to examine the affective and social cognitive responses to low-volume high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) over a progressive two-week supervised intervention for individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes. Ninety-nine adults that were low-active and overweight were randomized into one of two exercise conditions and had affective and social cognitive measures assessed before, during, and after intervention. Increases over time in post-exercise enjoyment, attitudes towards exercise, and intentions to exercise were noted for both HIIT and MICT conditions (ps <.05). The patterns of change in acute affective responses over the two-week intervention were consistent for both conditions, with participants in MICT reporting more positive in-task affect and affective attitudes throughout (ps <.001). Positive correlational relationships between affective and social cognitive responses were revealed throughout the intervention (ps <.05), highlighting the relationship between reflexive responses and reflective cognitions. Research is warranted to determine whether findings are a consequence of familiarization with exercise, whether such findings are translatable to real-world environments and non-progressive exercise protocols, and whether these reflexive responses and reflective cognitions are predictive of future exercise behaviour for individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes.

KEYWORDS:

• High-intensity interval training
• psychological responses
• randomized trial
• affect
• enjoyment

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all participants who took part in the Small Steps for Big Changes programme. The authors would also like to acknowledge Jessica Bourne, Katie Weatherson, Elizabeth Voth, Julianne Barry, and Rebecca Lee for their work with our research participants.

Data availability

Data pertaining to this research study is available from the corresponding

author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Geolocation information

This research project was conducted in the province of British Columbia, Canada.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the corresponding author’s grant funding from the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research [#5917] and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [333266].