Aims High-intensity interval training (HIIT) and resistance training (RT) are promising options for cardiac rehabilitation, yet exercise trials seldom report sufficient protocol details or participants’ response and experience in a standardised way. We therefore quantified and compared attendance rate, heart-rate–based compliance, perceived exertion, enjoyment and affect during a 12-week programme performed as either HIIT or HIIT plus RT (HIIT + RT). Both interventions were documented according to the Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template (CERT).

Methods A total of 105 patients with coronary artery disease (62 ± 7 years, 78 % men) were randomised to: usual care, HIIT or HIIT + RT. This study focus on the two exercise programs (n=64) consisting on three supervised 45-min sessions per week. Intensity for the high-intensity intervals was prescribed as 85-95 % of peak heart rate (HRpeak) and monitored both objectively in real time (second-by-second) and subjectively (Borg 0–10 Rating of Perceived Exertion scale). Outcomes were (i) attendance (sessions attended / sessions offered), (ii) intensity compliance (proportion of sessions meeting intensity target), (iii) enjoyment (Physical Activity Enjoyment Scale, 1–7) and (iv) affect response (Feeling Scale, –5 to +5 pre- and post-exercise).

Results Participants attended 88 % of scheduled sessions (HIIT 85 %, HIIT + RT 90 %; p=0.46) and were compliant with the prescribed heart rate intensity zone in an average of 75% of the attended sessions (HIIT 72%, HIIT+RT 78%; p = 0.48). Enjoyment was similarly high in both groups (overall PACES 5.4 / 7). Mean RPE during high-intensity intervals was 7.1 / 10 for both groups; in HIIT + RT, average RPE during resistance circuits were 5.1. Feeling-Scale scores improved after exercise sessions in both programs (HIIT +0.65; HIIT + RT +0.45), with a statistically significant advantage for HIIT+RT in post-session affective response, after adjusting for pre-session scores (p < .001)

Conclusion Our HIIT and HIIT + RT programs resulted in high attendance and compliance, and were positively experienced by patients with coronary artery disease, providing a feasible and time-efficient alternative for meeting international exercise guidelines (including RT). The fully CERT-documented protocols offer a reproducible research and clinical work.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

NCT06214624

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2024.1437567/full

This project was mainly supported by the Grant PID2020-120249RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the Andalusian Government (Junta de Andalucia, Plan Andaluz de Investigacion, ref. P20_00124). J.F-O, L.S-A, M.O-R, and A.C-P are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU22/03052-FPU21/06192-FPU22/02476-FPU21/02594). AT has received funding from the Junta de Andalucia, Spain, under the Postdoctoral Research Fellows (Ref. POSTDOC_21_00745). B-FG is supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FSE+ (PID2022-137399OB-I00). AC was funded by postdoctoral research grants from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (grant number 20230343), the County Council of Ostergotland, Sweden (grant number RO-990967), the Swedish Heart Association, and the Swedish Society of Clinical Physiology. IMF was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (JDC2022-049642-I). IEC is supported by grant RYC2019-027287-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and -ESFInvesting in your future-, and grants PID2022-137399OB-I00 and CNS2024-154835 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and -ERDF A way of making Europe-. EAB has received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No [101064851]. JSM is supported by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)/Scholarship Program/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2022 (Grant 72220164).

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Research Ethics Board of the Andalusian Health Service (CEIM/CEI Provincial de Granada; #1776-N-21on December 21st, 2021) gave ethical approval for this work

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

Yes

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

Yes

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors