High-intensity interval walking training to promote physical fitness for female college students

 

Aiko Tanabe^1,2, Hirokazu Genno³, Ken-ichi Nemoto², and Hiroshi Nose^1,3

¹Department of Sports Medical Sciences, Shinshu University Graduate School of Medicine, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan; ²Department of Health and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Human Science, Matsumoto Univ. Matsumoto 390-1295, Japan; ³Jukunen Taiiku Daigaku Research Center, Matsumoto 390-8621, Japan

 

We examined whether high-intensity interval walking (HIW) training increased physical fitness in college female students. Fifty seven students performed HIW training for 3 months, repeated 3-minute HIW, > 70% of peak aerobic capacity for cycling (CVO_2peak), followed by 3-minute low-intensity walking, < 40%CVO_2peak, >30min•day-1, >4 days•wk-1. The energy expenditure during training was monitored by tri-axial accelerometry. After training, isometric knee extension (FEXT) and flexion (FFLX) forces, and CVO_2peak all significantly increased (P<0.05). When subjects were divided equally into 3 groups of 19 subjects each; low (L), middle (M), and high (H) according to CVO_2peak before training, HIW time was 13, 9, and 6 min•wk-1 in L, M, and H, respectively, with significantly higher in L than H (P<0.05). CVO_2peak increased by 13% in L, 5% in M (both, P<0.05), but not in H. FEXT increased by ~10% in all groups (all, P<0.05) and FFLX increased by 11% in L and 5% in M (both, P<0.05) but not in H. Thus, HIW training increased physical fitness in female college students but more in L.

 

Key words: walking training, college students, physical fitness