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A short-term, 4-week high-intensity interval training (HIIT) program significantly improves body composition, cardiovascular fitness, psychological well-being, and executive function in overweight and obese young adult women. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

January 18, 2023Open Access

The effect of HIIT on body composition, cardiovascular fitness, psychological well-being, and executive function of overweight/obese female young adults

Structured PICO

Does a 4-week HIIT aerobics program improve body composition, cardiovascular fitness, psychological well-being, and executive function in inactive overweight/obese female young adults?

Population

48 overweight/obese female young adults (aged 18-25 years) at a university in China. Key inclusion criteria: non-smokers, BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 or body fat percentage ≥ 30%, body weight constant (±2 kg) during the past 3 months, no participation in regular physical activities, and no history of metabolic, hormonal, orthopedic, or cardiovascular diseases.

Intervention

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) aerobics, 3 days per week for 4 weeks. Sessions consisted of 8 movements x 4 repetitions separated by 10s of passive rest, targeting ≥85% of maximal heart rate.

Comparator

Wait-list control group receiving no training, instructed to maintain their regular physical activity regimens and eating habits during the 4-week intervention period.

Outcome

Changes in body composition (waist circumference, body fat percentage), cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), psychological well-being (Self-Rating Depression Scale score), and executive function (Stroop word-color test) before and after the 4-week intervention.surrogate

A short-term (4-week) HIIT aerobics program significantly improves body composition, cardiovascular fitness, and psychological well-being in inactive overweight/obese young women.

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the effect of a short-term HIIT program on the selected health-related parameters for overweight/obese young adult women in a university context. Methods A total of 48 participants were randomly divided into two groups. The exercise group (HIIT) received a HIIT intervention of aerobics for 4 weeks, while the control group (CON) received no training. Body composition including waist circumference (WC), body fat percentage (BF %), Cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max), the score of Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Stroop word-color test (SCWT) results were assessed before and after the intervention along with within- and between-group comparisons. Results All the indices were significantly improved in HIIT group ( p 0.01) after 4 weeks of intervention. No significant changes were found in CON. There were significant differences between HIIT and CON in cardiovascular fitness ( p 0.01), SDS ( p 0.01) and SCWT ( p 0.05) before and after 4 weeks. In addition, weekly measurements of HIIT effects showed significant changes ( p 0.01) from the second week in the variables of body composition, VO2max, SDS and SCWT when compared with the baseline and maintained the tendency till the end of program. Conclusion The short-term HIIT aerobics of the campus program conducted in a non-lab setting induced significant improvements in body composition, cardiovascular fitness, psychological well-being and executive function in overweight young female adults.

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