Response: Commentary: Why sprint interval training is inappropriate for a largely sedentary population

Prevalence and predictors of dropout from high‐intensity interval training in sedentary individuals: A meta‐analysis

“…Given that the literature commonly reports dropout rates ranging between 30% and 50% for traditional supervised exercise programs, this finding suggests that HIIT appears to be well tolerated and accepted by previously untrained individuals. Our results challenge recent concerns that HIIT is inappropriate for sedentary individuals and support opposing viewpoints, advocating that there is promising potential for HIIT‐based exercise interventions to contribute to public health promotion . The relatively low prevalence of dropouts in HIIT trials when compared with traditional exercise programs could be due to several reasons.…”

“…Recently, it has been argued that HIIT, in particular sprint interval training (SIT, a specific, more intense form of HIIT involving supramaximal/all‐out exercise bouts), is inappropriate for sedentary individuals because it is perceived as too strenuous and most likely would result in high dropout rates . In contrast, other researchers have challenged this position and highlighted the potential of HIIT as a viable strategy for health promotion . Indeed, it might be hypothesized that the time‐saving aspect of HIIT could be helpful in overcoming time‐related barriers to uptake and maintenance of physical activity.…”

Commentary: Why sprint interval training is inappropriate for a largely sedentary population

“…Their opinion article offers reasonable critiques to the potential broader effectiveness of SIT vis-a-vis the efficacy demonstrated within laboratory trials. However, three commentary responses (Del Vecchio et al, 2015 ; Astorino and Thum, 2016 ; Jung et al, 2016 ) have since been published with one common thread being to question the assumption that low affective perceptions necessarily accompany engagement in SIT. We have followed this debate with interest, in particular regarding affective responses to SIT [and, more broadly, high-intensity interval training (HIIT)] 1 .…”

Modified sprint interval training protocols. Part II. Psychological responses

“…However, because of SIT's strenuous nature, concerns have been raised regarding its tolerability for the general public (Hardcastle et al 2014;Biddle and Batterham 2015;Del Vecchio et al 2015;Astorino and Thum 2016;Jung et al 2016). Researchers have argued that SIT is not actually time-efficient because typical SIT sessions are ϳ30 min once warm-up and cooldown periods are taken into account (Hardcastle et al 2014).…”