Physical Activity and Intermittent Exercise Training for Cardiovascular and Cognitive Gain in Obese Women

"Interval exercise sessions (INT) involving work:recovery ratios of 40 s at 70% delta work-rate followed by 80 s active recovery at 20 W. 70% delta (∆) is 70% of the difference between work rate peak (WRpeak) and work rate at the lactate threshold (WRLT) calculated as:~70%∆ =0.7(〖WR〗\_peak- 〖WR〗\_LT )+ 〖WR〗\_LT~Where WR is work rate, LT is lactate threshold)~Each session was for 30 min and this was undertaken twice per week for 12 weeks. One home based exercise session was incorporated per week."

Exercise sessions involved cycling at 20%∆ work-rate peak for the duration of the session. This work-rate was chosen so that all participants in the group would be exercising in the heavy-intensity domain. To enable participants in the CON exercise group to complete the same amount of work (kJ) as the participants in the INT exercise group, the amount of work that would be completed if the CON participants completed an INT exercise session was calculated. Participants exercised for 26 min (varying to match interval group) twice per week for 12 weeks.