Decremental Exercise: a New Training Approach?

NCT ID: NCT03155152

Last Updated: 2020-03-18

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 55 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2017-06-01
• Study Completion Date: 2019-12-11

Brief Summary

Different types of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions are used by athletes in order to improve their physical performance, but innovative approaches to training are lacking. Therefore, in Part A of this study the physiological response to a standard HIIT and a new decremental exercise training (DECT) will be compared in runners and cyclists. Next, in Part B the training effects of a 4-week block of the HIIT and DECT will be compared.

Conditions

Exercise Performance of Fit Athletes

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

DECT Group

The DECT session consists of four bouts of 4 min high-intensity "decremental" exercise with 3 min of active recovery between bouts. Load is progressively decreased throughout each exercise bout. The training period will last for a total of 4 weeks, with three weekly sessions of supervised training

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

DECT

Intervention Type: OTHER

The DECT program consists of a 4-week training intervention with three weekly sessions of high-intensity interval training, in which during each exercise bout the workload is imposed in a decremental fashion.

HIIT Group

The HIIT session consists of four bouts of 4 min high-intensity "decremental" exercise with 3 min of active recovery between bouts. Load is kept constant throughout each exercise bout. The training period will last for a total of 4 weeks, with three weekly sessions of supervised training

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

HIIT

Intervention Type: OTHER

The HIIT program consists of a 4-week training intervention with three weekly sessions of high-intensity interval training, in which during each exercise bout the workload is kept constant.

Interventions

DECT

The DECT program consists of a 4-week training intervention with three weekly sessions of high-intensity interval training, in which during each exercise bout the workload is imposed in a decremental fashion.

Intervention Type: OTHER

HIIT

The HIIT program consists of a 4-week training intervention with three weekly sessions of high-intensity interval training, in which during each exercise bout the workload is kept constant.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age: 18-40 years
• Healthy, i.e. normal physical and mental status (not taking any medication on a regular basis for more than a month, except contraceptive medication)
• Normal Body-Mass-Index (BMI): 18.5-24.9 kg·m-2
• Well-trained athletes: V̇O2max > 55.1 ml·min-1·kg-1 for men and > 50.1 ml·min-1·kg-1 for women
• Normal lung function
• Non-smoking
• Willing to adhere to the general study rules

Exclusion Criteria

• Women who are pregnant or breast feeding
• Intention to become pregnant during the course of the study
• Known or suspected non-compliance, drug or alcohol abuse
• Inability to follow the procedures of the study, e.g. due to language problems, psychological disorders, dementia, etc. of the participant
• Previous enrolment into the same part (A or B) of the current study
• Enrolment of the investigator, his/her family members, employees and other dependent persons
• Acute or chronic illness
• Intake of medications affecting performance or the respiratory, cardiovascular or neuromuscular system
• Insufficient training history (<3 yrs of participation in competitive cycling/running) or training volume (<40 km running/week or 150 km cycling/week) in the previous 6 months
• Recent (<3 months) history of orthopaedic injury or participation in structured high-intensity training blocks

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 40 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Christina M Spengler, Prof.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

ETH Zurich

Locations

Exercise Physiology Lab, Institute of Human Movement Sciences and Sport, ETH Zurich

Zurich, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland

Countries

Switzerland

Other Identifiers

DECT_HIIT_2017

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id