The Effects of Interval Running Exercise on Acute Calorie Expenditure

Abstract

Interval training is getting more attention due to the rapid improvement in fitness and health level. This is so important for the people who have no much time to spend in gym or sports areas. Therefore, burning much more calories in a short time is getting important for these busy people. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of interval running exercises on acute calorie consumption. Thirteen female and ten male sedentary collegian students (age: 19.48 ± 1.64, height: 171.95 ± 8.14, weight: 65.91 ± 14.69) participated in the current study. All participates performed a steady state running for 30 min with 8 km/hour speed and interval running (6 km/h and 10 km/h with 1 minute interval) for 30 min on a treadmill on different days. Their calorie expenditure and other related gas parameters were measured with a mobile gas analyzer. The paired t-test was used to compare two protocols for the whole group. Moreover, the Wilcoxon test was used to measure in order to detect significant differences between steady state and interval running protocols for male and female groups. The results showed that there was no significant difference in calorie consumption, CO 2 production and RER values, while the only difference was observed in O 2 cost (p < 0.01) and heart rate in the whole, male and female groups (p < 0.05). As a conclusion, it was seen that interval running caused no more calorie expenditure than the classical steady state running acutely. Therefore, calorie burning may be delayed. There is a need for further study in this area.