Enhancing energy expenditure and enjoyment of exercise during pregnancy through the addition of brief higher intensity intervals to traditional continuous moderate intensity cycling

Table 1 Responses to continuous cycling (CONT) compared with interval cycling of equivalent duration (INTV) (mean ± SD)

	CONT	INT
	n = 12	n = 12
Physiological measures during 20-min conditioning
Mean power output (W)	78 ± 22	99 ± 18^a
Mean power output_{15 sec effort} (W)	Not applicable	281 ± 72
Mean heart rate (bpm)	126 ± 8	136 ± 1^a
Mean percentage HR_max	68 ± 4	73 ± 5^a
\( \overset{.}{\mathrm{V}} \)O₂ (L.min⁻¹)	1.23 ± 0.24	1.57 ± 0.28^a
Est. energy expenditure (kJ)	506 ± 99	645 ± 116^a
Glucose_pre (mmol∙L⁻¹)	5.9 ± 1.0	5.6 ± 1.2
Glucose_post (mmol∙L ^-1)	4.8 ± 0.8^b	4.6 ± 0.9^b
Psychological measures during 20-min conditioning
Mean RPE_overall	11 ± 2	12 ± 1
Mean RPE_{15s_effort}	Not applicable	16 ± 1
Exercise enjoyment (PACES score)	82 ± 21	101 ± 12^a

Footnotes: HR _max percentage age-predicted heart rate maximum, PACES Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale (higher score indicates greater enjoyment of exercise), RPE rate of perceived exertion from of 6 to 20 scale; 6 = no exertion, 20 = maximal exertion
^adenotes significant difference between conditions (P < 0.05)
^bdenotes significant difference pre/post within condition (P < 0 .05)

ISSN: 1471-2393