Brief Exercise at Work (BE@Work): A Mixed-Methods Pilot Trial of a Workplace High-Intensity Interval Training Intervention

Abstract

Introduction: The efficacy of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for improving markers of physical fitness and cardiometabolic health is promising. The workplace is one non-laboratory setting where the effectiveness of HIIT could be explored. The aim of this study was to undertake a mixed-methods exploratory pilot trial of a workplace HIIT intervention named Brief Exercise at Work (BE@Work).Methods: Fifty-four healthy employees (mean ± standard deviation [SD] age 46 ± 10 years) from two workplaces in Northeast England were allocated to 8 weeks of thrice-weekly workplace HIIT based on boxing, stair climbing and stepping, comprising 4–7 60 s high-intensity intervals interspersed with 75 s rest (n = 30), or a no-intervention control (n = 24). The primary outcome was the change SD of predicted maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max). Markers of physical fitness, cardiometabolic health and mental well-being were also measured at baseline and follow-up. Participant perceptions of the intervention were explored in post-intervention focus groups (n = 9).Results: Mean (±SD) session attendance was 82% (±15%). Mean peak heart rate across the intervention was 87% of age-predicted maximal heart rate with a within- and between-subject SD of 5.5% and 3.7%, respectively. The SD of changes in predicted VO2max was 6.6 mL·kg−1·min−1 across both groups, which can be used to inform sample size estimations for a future full trial. The control-adjusted mean increase (95% confidence interval) in predicted VO2max was 3.9 (−0.2 to 8.1) mL·kg−1·min−1, corresponding to a Cohen's D of 0.47. We also observed preliminary evidence of small to moderate effects in favour of the intervention group for non-dominant leg extensor muscle power, markers of health-related quality of life, well-being and perceived stress and small to moderate effects in favour of the controls in perceived pain, physical activity and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. During HIIT, focus group participants reported physiological responses they perceived as unpleasant or tiring (e.g., breathlessness, local muscular fatigue), but also that they felt alert and energised afterwards.Conclusion: The findings of this exploratory pilot trial support the implementation of a definitive randomised controlled trial to quantify the effectiveness of a workplace HIIT intervention.

Short High-Intensity Interval Exercise for Workplace-Based Physical Activity Interventions: A Systematic Review on Feasibility and Effectiveness

“…Strategies to overcome these barriers include offering more opportunities to exercise throughout the workday and organising frequent group exercise classes [20]. Further, the variety of the exercise selection appears to be a key factor in facilitating exercise engagement, as a single exercise mode might not facilitate adherence or compliance [21]. In this context, time-efficient and enjoyable exercise modalities, such as high-intensity interval training (HIT) [22][23][24], could represent a strategy to overcome the perceived barriers to physical activity participation within the workplace [9].…”

“…1). Of these, two studies were RCTs [38,39], one was a pilot RCT [40], and one was a mixed-methods pilot trial [21], while the remaining three were randomised [41] and non-randomised [42,43] feasibility studies. One study [39] reported the feasibility results in a separate subsequent paper [44].…”

“…Two studies [38,39] reported that participants were physically inactive prior to the intervention, one study [41] categorised them as low-to-moderately active (based on International Physical Activity Questionnaire [IPAQ] scores), while Eather et al [40] reported that participants identified themselves as "sedentary at work". The three remaining studies did not specify the physical activity level of the participants; however, workers enrolled in Burn et al [21] could be considered as sedentary based on their baseline maximal oxygen consumption (VO 2max ) values (≈ 37 ml/ kg/min), and Heng et al [43] enrolled overweight/obese individuals. Interventions lasted between 6 and 12 weeks, with a frequency of 2-4 HIT sessions/week for a session duration of 8-30 min (median = 10 min).…”

“…pregnancy, family bereavement, unrelated illness, or injuries) and work-related reasons (e.g. work accident, relocation by employers) were the most frequently reported [21,38,39,41]. In the studies involving Tabata protocols as the HIT intervention [42,43], participants' inability to meet the time commitment and unsatisfactory participation were the main reasons for abandoning, but no further details were provided.…”

Process Evaluation of Project FFAB (Fun Fast Activity Blasts): A Multi-Activity School-Based High-Intensity Interval Training Intervention

“…In addition, young people's experiences of taking part in HIIT remains unclear (Biddle and Batterham, 2015 ; Jung et al, 2015 ; Leahy et al, 2020 ; Weston et al, 2020 ). To date, only three detailed qualitative evaluations of real-world HIIT programmes exist, but these involved adult participants as part of a workplace intervention (Kinnafick et al, 2018 ; Metcalfe et al, 2020 ; Burn et al, 2021 ). Five school-based HIIT studies included aspects of process evaluation within their outcome trials (Buchan et al, 2013 ; Leahy et al, 2019 ; Kennedy et al, 2020 ; Lubans et al, 2020 ; Costigan et al, 2015b ).…”