Session perceived exertion and affective responses to self-selected and imposed cycle exercise of the same intensity in young men

Abstract

Session perceived exertion (S-RPE) and session affective responses (S-AR) are post-exercise estimates of the global responses experienced during exercise. To compare S-RPE and S-AR to acute RPE (A-RPE) and acute AR (A-AR) during self-selected (SS) and imposed (IMP) exercise of the same workload. Thirty-two males (22.3 ± 2.2 years) performed two, 20-min cycle exercise trials. In the SS trial, subjects adjusted SS workload every 5 min. In the IMP trial, workload was automatically adjusted to the SS workload. Experimental (EXP, n = 16) subjects were unaware that workload was the same between the trials. Control (CON, n = 16) subjects were aware that both trials were of the same workload. A-RPE and A-AR were measured every 5 min using the OMNI Scale and Feeling Scale, respectively. Fifteen minutes following a cool-down, subjects rated S-RPE and S-AR. Session and exercise values were compared between trials and groups using ANOVA. No between-group differences were observed. There were no differences between the SS and IMP trials for S-RPE, A-RPE, S-AR and A-AR. For SS and IMP trials, S-RPE was greater than A-RPE (4.6 ± 1.5 vs. 3.9 ± 1.4; 4.3 ± 1.6 vs. 3.7 ± 1.4, respectively, p < 0.05). S-AR was greater than A-AR for the SS trial (1.9 ± 1.3 vs. 2.3 ± 1.5, p < 0.05), but not the IMP trial (1.9 ± 1.5 vs. 2.2 ± 1.4). A mismatch exists between the session and acute exercise values for RPE and AR during the SS cycle exercise in young males.

Differences in exercise intensity seems to influence the affective responses in self-selected and imposed exercise: a meta-analysis

“…A total of 124 studies were retrieved from all databases. After the application of the exclusion criteria, a total of 10 studies were considered as eligible and reviewed in a meta-analysis fashion (Ekkekakis and Lind, 2006 ; Parfitt et al, 2006 ; Rose and Parfitt, 2007 , 2012 ; Sheppard and Parfitt, 2008 ; Stych and Parfitt, 2011 ; Haile et al, 2013 ; Williams and Raynor, 2013 ; Hamlyn-Williams et al, 2014 ; Oliveira et al, 2015 ). The description of the screening steps is presented in Figure 1 .…”

“…The mean age ranged from 12.5 ± 0.5 (Stych and Parfitt, 2011 ) to 45.1 ± 10.1 years (Rose and Parfitt, 2012 ) and the VO 2Peak ranged from 23.3 ± 5.3 (Ekkekakis and Lind, 2006 ) to 48.7 ± 9.7 mL.kg −1 .min −1 (Oliveira et al, 2015 ). With respect to the exercise volume, two studies (Sheppard and Parfitt, 2008 ; Stych and Parfitt, 2011 ) reported a 15-min duration, five studies (Ekkekakis and Lind, 2006 ; Parfitt et al, 2006 ; Rose and Parfitt, 2007 ; Haile et al, 2013 ; Hamlyn-Williams et al, 2014 ) reported a 20-min duration, one study (Rose and Parfitt, 2012 ) reported a 30-min duration, one study (Williams and Raynor, 2013 ) reported a 1/3 mile distance and one study reported a mean duration of 38.9 min. Six studies (Ekkekakis and Lind, 2006 ; Parfitt et al, 2006 ; Rose and Parfitt, 2007 , 2012 ; Williams and Raynor, 2013 ; Hamlyn-Williams et al, 2014 ) were conducted on a treadmill while four studies (Sheppard and Parfitt, 2008 ; Stych and Parfitt, 2011 ; Haile et al, 2013 ; Oliveira et al, 2015 ) were conducted on a cycle ergometer.…”

“…A qualitative analysis of the selected studies was performed. Five studies (Rose and Parfitt, 2012 ; Haile et al, 2013 ; Williams and Raynor, 2013 ; Hamlyn-Williams et al, 2014 ; Oliveira et al, 2015 ) compared the self-selected and imposed exercise with the same intensity. In only two studies (Hamlyn-Williams et al, 2014 ; Oliveira et al, 2015 ), the pace was continuously adjusted during the self-selected exercise, which may increase the external validity considering that participants may continuously adjust their pace in a real-world scenario.…”

Acute Affective Responses and Frontal Electroencephalographic Asymmetry to Prescribed and Self-selected Exercise

“…In the PE condition there was a decrease in pleasure while this outcome was stable and positive during the exercise on the SS condition. However, previous studies comparing PE and SS with the same intensity showed no significant differences for affective responses between both conditions [30-32]. A meta-analysis also showed no differences in affective responses between PE and SS exercise performed at the same intensity [33].…”

“…The literature has consistently demonstrated that high intensity exercise (above ventilatory threshold) generates affective responses reduction [7, 18, 19, 30]. However, findings comparing affective responses between PE and SS exercise have been somewhat inconsistent in the literature.…”