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We investigated the effects of mental fatigue (MF) on affective responses during an aerobic exercise session at moderate intensity. We submitted 12 insufficiently active adults (50% women; M age = 24.9 years, SD = 3.0; M BMI = 24.3 kg/m 2 ; SD = 2.6) to two 30-minute pre-exercise conditions: an MF condition (Stroop Color-Word task) and a control condition (watching a documentary) prior to their performance of 20 minutes of aerobic treadmill exercise at 40-59% of heart rate reserve. The minimum washout interval between conditions was two days. Perceived MF and motivation to perform physical exercise were assessed before and after conditions with a visual analog scale of 100 mm. We assessed participants' affective and exertion responses with the Feeling Scale, Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and heart rate during every two minutes of physical exercise. Implicit attitudes toward physical exercise were assessed by the Implicit Association Test before the MF and control conditions and after the physical exercise session. The participants in the MF condition reported lower pleasure ( M difference = -1.57, 95% CI = -2.64 to -0.50, d = 0.93, p = .008) and higher exertion (RPE) ( M difference = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.04 to 2.27, d = 0.66, p = .043) compared to those in the control condition. Participants who experienced MF also reported a more negative implicit attitude toward physical exercise than in the control condition ( β = -0.47, 95% CI= -0.73 to -0.21, d = 1.41, p < .001). While these findings should be cross-validated in subsequent research with a larger and more diverse participant sample, there appears to be value in minimizing pre-exercise mental fatigue to avoid negative MF effects on the exercisers' affective experience.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of the Feeling Scale (FS) to self-regulate resistance training (RT) intensity., Methods: Sixteen sedentary men (39.7 ± 7.5 yr) performed 3 familiarization sessions, 2 one-repetition maximum (1RM) testing, and 16 RT sessions (four sessions for each FS descriptor; randomized). The FS descriptors were "very good" (FS + 5), "good" (FS + 3), "fairly good" (FS + 1), and "fairly bad" (FS - 1). Resistance exercises were leg press, chest press, knee extension, and seated biceps curl. Participants were instructed to select a load associated with the verbal/numerical descriptor of the FS to perform three sets of 10 repetitions., Results: Participants lifted a significantly greater %1RM as the FS level decreased from FS + 5 to FS - 1 (P < 0.001). The mean %1RM values for the FS descriptors of +5, +3, +1, and -1, respectively, were as follows: leg press, 42.5% ± 9.5%, 58.2% ± 7.4%, 69.9% ± 7.0%, and 80.7% ± 5.4%; knee extensor, 37.4% ± 9.6%, 54.5% ± 9.3%, 65.3% ± 8.7%, and 78.2% ± 5.9%; chest press, 42.4% ± 11.3%, 54.9% ± 11.4%, 66.4% ± 12.6%, and 78.2% ± 13.5%; and biceps curl, 39.0% ± 8.1%, 54.0% ± 9.7%, 68.4% ± 5.9%, and 83.2% ± 3.0%. The interclass correlation coefficient over the four experimental sessions ranged from 0.73 to 0.99 for %1RM and from 0.77 to 0.99 for weight lifted, with a coefficient of variation of approximately 7%, 4%, 2%, and 2% for FS descriptors of +5, +3, +1, and -1, respectively., Conclusion: This study is the first to demonstrate that the FS can be used to self-regulate exercise intensity in RT. The lower the FS descriptor, the higher the weight lifted. In addition, the load self-selected for each FS descriptor was reliable across the four sessions.

Objectives: To examine the affective responses during a single bout of a low-volume HIIE in active and insufficiently active men., Materials and Methods: Fifty-eight men (aged 25.3 ± 3.6 years) volunteered to participate in this study: i) active (n = 29) and ii) insufficiently active (n = 29). Each subject undertook i) initial screening and physical evaluation, ii) maximal exercise test, and iii) a single bout of a low-volume HIIE. The HIIE protocol consisted of 10 x 60s work bouts at 90% of maximal treadmill velocity (MTV) interspersed with 60s of active recovery at 30% of MTV. Affective responses (Feeling Scale, -5/+5), rating of perceived exertion (Borg's RPE, 6-20), and heart rate (HR) were recorded during the last 10s of each work bout. A two-factor mixed-model repeated measures ANOVA, independent-samples t test, and chi-squared test were used to data analysis., Results: There were similar positive affective responses to the first three work bouts between insufficiently active and active men (p > 0.05). However, insufficiently active group displayed lower affective responses over time (work bout 4 to 10) than the active group (p < 0.01). Also, the insufficiently active group displayed lower values of mean, lowest, and highest affective response, as well as lower values of affective response at the highest RPE than the active group (p < 0.001). There were no differences in the RPE and HR between the groups (p > 0.05)., Conclusions: Insufficiently active and active men report feelings of pleasure to few work bouts (i.e., 3-4) during low-volume HIIE, while the affective responses become more unpleasant over time for insufficiently active subjects. Investigations on the effects of low-volume HIIE protocols including a fewer number of work bouts on health status and fitness of less active subjects would be interesting, especially in the first training weeks.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships of implicit associations and explicit evaluations with affective responses during an aerobic exercise session, physical activity, and sedentary behavior in adults. Fifty adults (70% women; median age = 31 years; 25th, 75th percentiles: 24.50, 40.50 years old; body mass index = 25.29 ± 4.97 kg/m2) not engaged in regular physical activity completed an implicit association test and a questionnaire of explicit evaluations and wore an accelerometer for 7 days. After the 7-day period, the participants performed 30 min of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Every 5 min, the affective response and the perception of effort were recorded. Participants who had more positive implicit associations toward physical activity (vs. sedentary behavior) reported higher affective responses during exercise and engaged in more moderate to vigorous physical activity. Encouraging pleasant physical activity may act to partially improve future physical activity through automatic motivational processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the effects of 12-week high-intensity interval (HIIT), moderate-intensity continuous (MICT), and self-selected intensity training (SSIT) on health outcomes and affective responses. Methods: Seventy-three overweight/obese inactive adults (62% woman; age, 31.4 ± 7.2 years; height, 1.66 ± 0.09 cm; Body mass index, 28.9 ± 2.7 kg.m−2) who were randomized into HIIT (n = 23), MICT (n = 24) and SSIT (n = 26) groups. The training was conducted three times per week in an outdoor environment, with 4 weeks under direct supervision and 8 weeks with semi-supervision. Cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and metabolic profile were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the 4th and 12th weeks. Core affect was measured during all training sessions. Results: Peak oxygen uptake improved in all groups after 4 and 12 weeks compared with baseline. Only the SSIT had reductions in body fat throughout the intervention. No improvements were observed in the metabolic profile across all groups. SSIT was perceived as more pleasurable than HIIT; however, there were no differences in affective responses between SSIT and MICT. Affective responses in-task (e.g. negative and positive peak, rate of change and affect at the end of the exercise session) predicted the HIIT and SSIT exercises attendance rate. Conclusion: Regardless of the exercise training protocol, overweight/obese inactive adults improved health outcomes, which suggests the prescribing HIIT, MICT, and SSIT in outdoor environments. SSIT should be considered in order to optimize the pleasure during training sessions. Affective response more positive in-task of the HIIT and SSIT is associated with greater attendance rate in these exercise protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the effects of a 12-week self-selected resistance training (SSRT) program on physical fitness and psychophysiological responses among physically inactive older women. We randomly allocated 32 inactive older women (M age = 66.0 years, SD = 3.0) into either an SSRT (n = 16) or control group (n = 16). Participants performed SSRT three times per week over 12 weeks. We assessed maximal isotonic and isokinetic muscle strength, functional capacity, flexibility, cardiorespiratory fitness, and body composition at baseline and after the intervention. Affective responses and perceived exertion were evaluated after each exercise set throughout the training program. The SSRT group significantly improved their maximal muscle strength in all exercises (Cohen's d ranging from 1.4-3.3; all p's <.001), peak torque (knee flexors: d = 1.7; knee extensors: d = 1.6; all p <.001), flexibility (knee flexors: d = 1.7; single hip flexors: d = 1.6; all p <.001; bilateral hip flexors: d = 1.1, p =.001), fat-free mass (d =.9, p =.008), and cardiorespiratory fitness (d =.9, p =.014), compared to the control group. All components of functional capacity improved compared to the control group (Cohen's d ranging from.8 to 5.5; all p's ≤.001). Participants perceived the exercise training sessions as pleasant and of low to moderate effort. Thus, a 12-week SSRT program was effective at improving physical fitness and inducing feelings of pleasure among inactive older women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]