Abstract
Purpose: nvestigating the effects of 8-week continuous or intermittent aerobic exercise on cardiorespiratory endurance and resting heart rate variability (HRV). Methods: Twenty healthy male college students were recruited. Participants were randomly assigned either to continuous group (CG) or intermittent group (IG), and then instructed to complete an 8-week program. Participants were asked to run 30 minutes at self-selected exercise intensity in each session, and 3 times a week. Observed variables included resting heart rate (HR), maximal oxygen uptake (VO_(2max)), and HRV indicators, such as mean R-R interval, standard deviation of all normal to normal Intervals (SDNN), total power (TP), high frequency power (HFP), low frequency power (LFP), and low/high frequency ratio (LFIHF). Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and mixed design two-way ANOVA. Results: 1) The performance of VO_(2max) through 8-week aerobic exercise training, the CG were 44.36 ± 6.85 ml/kg/min for pre-test and 50.03 ± 5.29 ml/kg/min for post-test. IG were 42.66 ± 4.79 ml/kg/min for pre-test, 45.23 ± 5.40 ml/kg/min for post-test. Different modes of aerobic exercise training could significantly improve college students' VO_(2max) (F = 10.36, p ＜ .05). 2) Effects of different modes of aerobic exercise on college students' resting heart rate, maximal oxygen uptake or heart rate variability showed no significant difference (p ＞ .05). Conclusions: Short-term and moderate intensity aerobic intermittent exercise and continuous exercise improved the college students' cardiorespiratory endurance, but did not enhance the HRV.