BACKGROUND: With accumulating evidence suggesting that CVD has its origins in childhood obesity. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a real-world school-based high-intensity interval training intervention on body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic markers in obese boys aged 10 to 13 years. METHODS: Forty-five adolescent boys with obesity (age 11.2 +/- 0.7 years, BMI 24.2 +/- 1.0 kg/m2), were randomized to high-intensity interval training group (HIIT, n = 15), moderate-intensity continuous training group (MICT, n = 15), or a control group (CON, n = 15). The intervention groups performed three weekly exercise sessions over 12 weeks. HIIT group performed two sets of eight bouts of 15 s run at high-intensity (90 to 100% maximal aerobic speed (MAS)) separated by eight bouts of 15 s recovery run at low-intensity (50% MAS), MICT group performed 30 min run at moderate intensity (60 to 70% MAS) and CON group were instructed to continue their normal behaviors. All participants had indices of body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and cardiometabolic markers measured at baseline and post-intervention. Statistical differences between and within groups were determined by use of two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures. RESULTS: Following the school-based training program, BMI and body fat mass decreased (BMI -1.8 kg/m2 versus -1.2 kg/m2, p < 0.01; FM: -1.6 kg, p < 0.05 versus -3.7 kg, p < 0.01) in HIIT and MICT group, but there was no significant difference between the two interventions; (Formula: see text) both increased significantly in two intervention groups, and the increment of HIIT group was significantly greater than that of MICT (6.1 mL/kg/min versus 3.8 mL/kg/min, p < 0.01), Visceral adipose tissue was significant decrease in HIIT group (-53 g versus -17 g, p < 0.01) whilst the MICT group experienced a significant decrease in body fat percentage (-3.1 +/- 1.0 kg, p < 0.01), but there were no significant difference between the two interventions. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased only in HIIT group (-17.2%, p < 0.05). Significant decrease in the usual index of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) occurred in HIIT and MICT groups (-27.3 and -28.6%, respectively; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that high-intensity interval training based on running can be used to improve the physical health of obese adolescents in school. Further investigations involving a larger cohort of participants, taken from different schools, is recommended. TRIAL REGISTRATION: 16/12/2017, ChiCTR-IOR-17013992, website http://www.chictr.org.cn.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PubMed Central
• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher