Addition of synchronous whole-body vibration to body mass resistive exercise causes little or no effects on muscle damage and inflammation.

The purpose of this study was to determine if a moderate intensity whole-body vibration (WBV) body mass resistive exercise session causes additional muscle damage, soreness, and inflammation compared with the same exercise session without vibration (NoV). Ten recreationally active male university students completed 2 separate 24-hour study periods incorporating an exercise session with WBV or NoV. Muscle torque was measured (at 0, 60, and 240°·s-1 angular velocities), soreness (10-point scale) in the upper (UE [triceps]) and lower (LE [quadriceps]) extremities, and muscle inflammation markers (interleukin [IL]-1ß, IL-6, IL-10) were measured at 4 time points (preexercise, immediately postexercise, 4 hours post, and 24 hours post). Diet was controlled. Compared with NoV, WBV increased (p < 0.01) muscle soreness at 24 hours postexercise in both the UE (2.2 ± 1.7 vs. 0.6 ± 0.9) and LE (2.0 ± 1.5 vs. 0.7 ± 0.7). Muscle torque was decreased immediately postexercise (p < 0.05) in the UE and LE at 0°·s and in the UE at 240°·s, but there was no difference between exercise treatments. The exercise session caused significant but small increases in IL-1ß and IL-6 but with no differences between exercise treatments. Interleukin-10 was increased with WBV (2.9 ± 2.0 to 3.6 ± 1.9 pg·ml-1; p < 0.03). These data suggest that the addition of WBV to exercise has little effect on muscle function and damage, soreness, or inflammation.

Two minutes of sprint-interval exercise elicits 24-hr oxygen consumption similar to that of 30 min of continuous endurance exercise.

Six weeks (3 times/wk) of sprint-interval training (SIT) or continuous endurance training (CET) promote body-fat losses despite a substantially lower training volume with SIT. In an attempt to explain these findings, the authors quantified VO2 during and after (24 h) sprint-interval exercise (SIE; 2 min exercise) vs. continuous endurance exercise (CEE; 30 min exercise). VO2 was measured in male students (n = 8) 8 times over 24 hr under 3 treatments (SIE, CEE, and control [CTRL, no exercise]). Diet was controlled. VO2 was 150% greater (p < .01) during CEE vs. SIE (87.6 ± 13.1 vs. 35.1 ± 4.4 L O2; M ± SD). The observed small difference between average exercise heart rates with CEE (157 ± 10 beats/min) and SIE (149 ± 6 beats/min) approached significance (p = .06), as did the difference in peak heart rates during CEE (166 ± 10 beats/min) and SIE (173 ± 6 beats/min; p = .14). Total O2 consumed over 8 hr with CEE (263.3 ± 30.2 L) was greater (p < .01) than both SIE (224.2 ± 15.3 L; p < .001) and CTRL (163.5 ± 16.1 L; p < .001). Total O2 with SIE was also increased over CTRL (p < .001). At 24 hr, both exercise treatments were increased (p < .001) vs. CTRL (CEE = 500.2 ± 49.2; SIE = 498.0 ± 29.4; CTRL = 400.2 ± 44.6), but there was no difference between CEE and SIE (p = .99). Despite large differences in exercise VO2, the protracted effects of SIE result in a similar total VO2 over 24 hr vs. CEE, indicating that the significant body-fat losses observed previously with SIT are partially due to increases in metabolism postexercise.

Running sprint interval training induces fat loss in women.

Data on whether sprint interval training (SIT) (repeated supermaximal intensity, short-duration exercise) affects body composition are limited, and the data that are available suggest that men respond more favourably than do women. Moreover, most SIT data involve cycling exercise, and running may differ because of the larger muscle mass involved. Further, running is a more universal exercise type. This study assessed whether running SIT can alter body composition (air displacement plethysmography), waist circumference, maximal oxygen consumption, peak running speed, and (or) the blood lipid profile. Fifteen recreationally active women (age, 22.9 ± 3.6 years; height, 163.9 ± 5.1 cm; mass, 60.8 ± 5.2 kg) completed 6 weeks of running SIT (4 to 6, 30-s "all-out" sprints on a self-propelled treadmill separated by 4 min of rest performed 3 times per week). Training decreased body fat mass by 8.0% (15.1 ± 3.6 to 13.9 ± 3.4 kg, P = 0.002) and waist circumference by 3.5% (80.1 ± 4.2 to 77.3 ± 4.4 cm, P = 0.048), whereas it increased fat-free mass by 1.3% (45.7 ± 3.5 to 46.3 ± 2.9 kg, P = 0.05), maximal oxygen consumption by 8.7% (46 ± 5 to 50 ± 6 mL/(kg·min), P = 0.004), and peak running speed by 4.8% (16.6 ± 1.7 to 17.4 ± 1.4 km/h, P = 0.026). There were no differences in food intake assessed by 3-day food records (P > 0.329) or in blood lipids (P > 0.595), except for a slight decrease in high-density lipoprotein concentration (1.34 ± 0.28 to 1.24 ± 0.24 mmol/L, P = 0.034). Running SIT is a time-efficient strategy for decreasing body fat while increasing aerobic capacity, peak running speed, and fat-free mass in healthy young women.