General HealthNCT05260905
Predictors of Affective Responses to Sprint Interval Exercise
An observational study of General Health, run by University of Stirling at 1 site in United Kingdom.
Trial summary
Regular exercise is needed to ensure good general health and wellbeing. How exercise makes you feel (pleasant / unpleasant) is thought to be important for whether people will stick with a given exercise routine. Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 to 40 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
- Conditions the study is for
- General Health
- What is being tested?
- REHIT
- Type of treatment
- Lifestyle or therapy programme
- How many people
- 36 participants
- Where
- 1 siteUnited Kingdom
- Study dates
- 1 Mar 2022to 30 Aug 2025
- Phase
- Observational
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages 18 to 40 years
- All sexes
- Healthy volunteers accepted
- Adult
Study population: The study population will consist of any apparently healthy individuals who are not highly physically active and who have no contra-indications to performing exercise.
Who may be able to join
- Apparently healthy
- Sedentary or recreationally active
Who cannot join
- Classified as highly physically active on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)
- Answering 'Yes' to any of the questions of a standard Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
- Resting heart rate >100 bpm
- Resting blood pressure > 140/90 mm Hg
- BMI > 35 kg/m2
- Testing positive for Covid-19
- Pregnant women
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
United Kingdom1 site
University of Stirling
Stirling, Midlothian, FK9 4LA
About this study
Regular exercise is needed to ensure good general health and wellbeing. How exercise makes you feel (pleasant / unpleasant) is thought to be important for whether people will stick with a given exercise routine. Sprint interval training (SIT) has been shown be a time-efficient exercise strategy for improving health, but some researchers suggest that SIT may be experienced as unpleasant and therefore unsuitable as an exercise routine for improving general health and wellbeing. However, SIT protocols are diverse, and it has previously been shown that very short SIT protocols such as 'reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training' (REHIT) are not perceived as unpleasant, at least on average. Interestingly, how REHIT is perceived appears to be highly variable between individuals. This individual variability may have important implications for whether people stick with REHIT and/or SIT in real-world settings, and therefore it is important to characterise it and better understand why some people find this exercise unpleasant while others do not. This study aims to characterise the within-participant and between-participant variability in how people perceive REHIT. Furthermore, potential relationships between psychological characteristics and how people perceive REHIT will be explored.
Read the detailed description
The study will recruit between 100-150 apparently healthy participants from multiple sites. Participants will be asked to complete the following questionnaires: Anxiety Sensitivity Index 3 (ASI-3), Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ), Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS), and Preferences and Tolerances for High Intensity Exercise (PRETIE-Q). This data will be used to determine if changes in affective valence during REHIT are associated with the responses to these questionnaires.
Participants' maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) will be determined using an incremental cycling test to exhaustion. Participants will start cycling on a stationary bike at a low intensity (30 W). The intensity will increase by 1 W every 3 seconds until volitional exhaustion or an inability to maintain a pedalling frequency of >60 rpm. Expired O2 and CO2 will be continuously measured breath-by-breath using an online gas analyser. VO2max will be determined as the highest value for a 15-breath rolling average of VO2. VO2max will be accepted if at least 2 of the following criteria are met: volitional exhaustion, inability to maintain a pedal frequency of 60 rpm, RER>1.10, a plateau in VO2, and/or heart rate within 10 bpm of the age predicted maximum (220-age).
Participants will practice REHIT exercise on 2 occasions. Each session will be performed on a mechanically-braked cycle ergometer. REHIT consists of 10 minutes of unloaded cycling interjected with 2 maximal sprints against a resistance equivalent to 7.5% baseline body mass. In the first practice session the sprints will be 10 seconds long; in the second practice session they will be 15 seconds long. Sprints will finish at 2 minutes and 6 minutes into the session. The scales for rating of perceived exertion (RPE, Borg scale), affect (Feeling scale), and arousal (Felt Arousal) will be explained to the participants during the familiarisation sessions.
The final 2 sessions are the experimental sessions and will involve REHIT sessions with 20-second sprints. The Demand and Resource Questionnaire will be administered pre-exercise. Affect (Feeling scale) and arousal (Felt Arousal) will be measured at rest before exercise and at the end of every minute during exercise. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE, Borg scale) will be measured at the same time-points but during exercise only. Heart rate and power output will be measured throughout the 10-minute exercise session. The Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) will be administered 10 minutes after exercise.
Within- and between-participant variability in the change in affect with exercise will be determined. Potential associations between psychology questionnaire scores and the change in affect with exercise will be explored.
- Conditions
- General Health
- Being tested
- REHIT
- Keywords
- Affective valence, Affect, REHIT, Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
REHITBehavioural
Also called Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training
REHIt involves 10 minutes of unloaded cycling on a stationary bike, interspersed with two 20-s 'all-out' cycle sprints against a resistance equivalent to 7.5% of body mass.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention | All participants will perform 2 experimental sessions, each involving a REHIT exercise session. Receives: Behavioral: REHIT |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
Exercise-induced change in affective valence
Affective valence is a measure of how pleasant / unpleasant the exercise is and will be measured using the 11-point Feeling Scale pre-exercise (ranging from 5 (very bad) to 5 (very good)), and at the end of every minute during exercise. The change in affect will be calculated as the difference between the pre-exercise value and the lowest value during exercise. This will be measured during both experimental sessions.
Measured: Affective valence will be measured before exercise and at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials. The outcome measure will be determined as the differences between the pre-exercise measurement and the lowest value during exercise.
Secondary outcomes (2)
Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)
RPE is a measure of how hard an exercise session is perceived to be and will be measured using the 15-point Borg scale (ranging from 6 (very very light) to 20 (very very hard) at the end of every minute during exercise. RPE will be measured during both experimental sessions.
Measured: RPE will be measured at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials.
Felt arousal
Felt arousal is a measure of perceived activation and will be measured using the Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) along a 6-point scale (ranging from low arousal (1) to high arousal (6)), at the end of every minute during exercise. Felt arousal will be measured during both experimental sessions.
Measured: Felt arousal will be measured at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials.
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted2 Mar 2022
- Study start1 Mar 2022
- Primary completion30 May 2025
- Study completion30 Aug 2025
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for General HealthStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Observational
- Observational model
- Other
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Enrolment
- 36 participants (actual)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- University of Stirling
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Swansea University, University of Worcester, University of Edinburgh, California State University, San Marcos
- Responsible party
- Principal investigator, Niels Vollaard, University of Stirling
- Investigators
- Niels Vollaard, PhD, Principal investigator, University of Stirling
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05260905
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- NICR4297
- Status last verified
- Apr 2026
- First submitted
- 9 Feb 2022
- Last updated
- 29 Apr 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- Yes: Anonymised IPD can be provided to other researchers on request, if the data are of use to answer a valid research question.
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 29 Apr 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Predictors of Affective Responses to Sprint Interval Exercise
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT05260905
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- NICR4297
- Conditions
- General Health
- Keywords
- Affective valence, Affect, REHIT, Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training
- Study type
- Observational
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Enrolment
- 36 participants (actual)
- Lead sponsor
- University of StirlingUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Swansea University, University of Worcester, University of Edinburgh, California State University, San Marcos
- Study start
- 1 Mar 2022 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 30 May 2025 (actual)
- Study completion
- 30 Aug 2025 (actual)
- First posted
- 2 Mar 2022 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
Regular exercise is needed to ensure good general health and wellbeing. How exercise makes you feel (pleasant / unpleasant) is thought to be important for whether people will stick with a given exercise routine. Sprint interval training (SIT) has been shown be a time-efficient exercise strategy for improving health, but some researchers suggest that SIT may be experienced as unpleasant and therefore unsuitable as an exercise routine for improving general health and wellbeing. However, SIT protocols are diverse, and it has previously been shown that very short SIT protocols such as 'reduced-exertion high-intensity interval training' (REHIT) are not perceived as unpleasant, at least on average. Interestingly, how REHIT is perceived appears to be highly variable between individuals. This individual variability may have important implications for whether people stick with REHIT and/or SIT in real-world settings, and therefore it is important to characterise it and better understand why some people find this exercise unpleasant while others do not. This study aims to characterise the within-participant and between-participant variability in how people perceive REHIT. Furthermore, potential relationships between psychological characteristics and how people perceive REHIT will be explored.
Detailed description
The study will recruit between 100-150 apparently healthy participants from multiple sites. Participants will be asked to complete the following questionnaires: Anxiety Sensitivity Index 3 (ASI-3), Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ), Sense of Agency Scale (SoAS), and Preferences and Tolerances for High Intensity Exercise (PRETIE-Q). This data will be used to determine if changes in affective valence during REHIT are associated with the responses to these questionnaires.
Participants' maximal aerobic capacity (VO2max) will be determined using an incremental cycling test to exhaustion. Participants will start cycling on a stationary bike at a low intensity (30 W). The intensity will increase by 1 W every 3 seconds until volitional exhaustion or an inability to maintain a pedalling frequency of >60 rpm. Expired O2 and CO2 will be continuously measured breath-by-breath using an online gas analyser. VO2max will be determined as the highest value for a 15-breath rolling average of VO2. VO2max will be accepted if at least 2 of the following criteria are met: volitional exhaustion, inability to maintain a pedal frequency of 60 rpm, RER>1.10, a plateau in VO2, and/or heart rate within 10 bpm of the age predicted maximum (220-age).
Participants will practice REHIT exercise on 2 occasions. Each session will be performed on a mechanically-braked cycle ergometer. REHIT consists of 10 minutes of unloaded cycling interjected with 2 maximal sprints against a resistance equivalent to 7.5% baseline body mass. In the first practice session the sprints will be 10 seconds long; in the second practice session they will be 15 seconds long. Sprints will finish at 2 minutes and 6 minutes into the session. The scales for rating of perceived exertion (RPE, Borg scale), affect (Feeling scale), and arousal (Felt Arousal) will be explained to the participants during the familiarisation sessions.
The final 2 sessions are the experimental sessions and will involve REHIT sessions with 20-second sprints. The Demand and Resource Questionnaire will be administered pre-exercise. Affect (Feeling scale) and arousal (Felt Arousal) will be measured at rest before exercise and at the end of every minute during exercise. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE, Borg scale) will be measured at the same time-points but during exercise only. Heart rate and power output will be measured throughout the 10-minute exercise session. The Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (PACES) will be administered 10 minutes after exercise.
Within- and between-participant variability in the change in affect with exercise will be determined. Potential associations between psychology questionnaire scores and the change in affect with exercise will be explored.
Study design
- Observational model
- Other
- Time perspective
- Prospective
- Number of arms
- 1
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Intervention | – | Behavioral: REHITAll participants will perform 2 experimental sessions, each involving a REHIT exercise session. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 to 40 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepted
- Age groups
- Adult
- Study population
- The study population will consist of any apparently healthy individuals who are not highly physically active and who have no contra-indications to performing exercise.
Key inclusion criteria (2 listed)
- Apparently healthy
- Sedentary or recreationally active
Key exclusion criteria (7 listed)
- Classified as highly physically active on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)
- Answering 'Yes' to any of the questions of a standard Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q)
- Resting heart rate >100 bpm
- Resting blood pressure > 140/90 mm Hg
- BMI > 35 kg/m2
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| REHITAlso: Reduced-exertion high-intensity interval trainingREHIt involves 10 minutes of unloaded cycling on a stationary bike, interspersed with two 20-s 'all-out' cycle sprints against a resistance equivalent to 7.5% of body mass. | Behavioural | Intervention |
Primary outcome
Exercise-induced change in affective valence
Time frame: Affective valence will be measured before exercise and at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials. The outcome measure will be determined as the differences between the pre-exercise measurement and the lowest value during exercise.
Affective valence is a measure of how pleasant / unpleasant the exercise is and will be measured using the 11-point Feeling Scale pre-exercise (ranging from 5 (very bad) to 5 (very good)), and at the end of every minute during exercise. The change in affect will be calculated as the difference between the pre-exercise value and the lowest value during exercise. This will be measured during both experimental sessions.
2 secondary outcomes
Rating of perceived exertion (RPE)
Time frame: RPE will be measured at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials.
Felt arousal
Time frame: Felt arousal will be measured at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials.
Results and safety
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 29 Apr 2026.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: Yes. Anonymised IPD can be provided to other researchers on request, if the data are of use to answer a valid research question.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
Niels Vollaard, PhD principal investigator
University of Stirling
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
An observational study of General Health, run by University of Stirling at 1 site in United Kingdom.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 7 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 29 Apr 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in United Kingdom. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
Exercise-induced change in affective valence (time frame: Affective valence will be measured before exercise and at the end of every minute during the 10-minute exercise trials. The outcome measure will be determined as the differences between the pre-exercise measurement and the lowest value during exercise.). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 29 Apr 2026.