The Use of Competition in a School-based Intervention for Increasing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Adolescents

Throughout the 10-weeks intervention period, B2L-M HIIT sessions will be delivered during regular PE classes twice a week, by the schools' PE teachers. The HIIT sessions will be applied in the first 8-10 min of each PE class, including a brief warm-up involving a combination of aerobic and body weight muscle-strengthening exercises, and designed to be fun and engaging as well as vigorous in nature

Students will participate in a school competition to win points for their class for a 10-week period. In every HIIT session the heart rate will be tracked to measure the exercise intensity and also it will be used to win points for the competition. Every class will receive the same number of points as the sum of the minutes of exercise at a vigorous intensity (i.e., ≥85% max. heart rate) of each participant. This fact means that the physical fitness is irrelevant to the competition aspect, which will only consider the effort of the participants.