I: The Final Stretch

About a year ago, I started to post in my blog about researching the efficacy of aquatic-based exercise training versus land-based exercise training in the lactic acid threshold of sedentary college students. After I delved into research on how to get the lactic acid threshold of individuals without using invasive methods, I decided to push through with obtaining the anaerobic threshold instead. From the start, I'm set on not using invasive methods in extracting data because it would take too much time in getting a formal permission from the University board to allow me to do such methods. I also decided to focus on the aquatic-based exercise program instead of the original plan of comparing the land-based and aquatic-based exercise programs because, my premise in the first place, is that the aquatic-based exercise program is effective. Furthermore, I'm operating under the primary objective of knowing the effects of the aquatic-based exercise program instead of comparing the effects of the aquatic-based exercise program with the effects of the land-based exercise program, which could be done secondarily after finding out the effects of the aquatic-based exercise program.

Research title: The Effects Of An Aquatic-based HIIT Exercise Program On The Anaerobic Capacity, BMI, Body Fat Percentage and Recovery Heart Rate Of Physically Inactive Filipino College Students.

Problem: Would an aquatic-based HIIT training program elicit an improvement in the anaerobic capacity, BMI, body fat percentage, and recovery heart rate of a physically inactive individual? 

I settled on researching on four main variables namely BMI, body fat percentage, recovery heart rate and anaerobic capacity. My study includes four sub-variables to determine anaerobic capacity namely maximum power, minimum power, average power and fatigue index.

I particularly chose the three main variables (BMI, body fat percentage, recovery heart rate) because of their possible implications with regards to the possible change in another main variable, the anaerobic capacity of an individual. Furthermore, I chose recovery heart rate because of the possible implication that the improvement of anaerobic capacity could also improve the individual's aerobic capacity.

I chose a High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program because my main goal is to improve my subjects' anaerobic capacity, which means the most immediate energy system utilized in the first few minutes of exercise. Usually, this energy system is dominantly used in power sports such as sprints, weight lifting, high jumps, long jumps, etc. I chose physically inactive individuals because, given the time constraint I have for the study, there is only a limited amount of time I have to improve the given variables. Based on the principle of diminishing returns, physically inactive individuals give me more opportunity to spot an improvement in a short period of time compared to physically active individuals. Risk of injuries and harm from environmental factors during training are reduced significantly because the subjects are placed in an aquatic environment. I obviously have some requirements when I chose my subjects for safety purposes which I will quickly discuss in the methodology portion of this blog.

Methodology

I was able to gather 30 participants, 15 male and 15 female, through convenience and snowball sampling. At the end of the research study, a total of 5 participants dropped out for various reasons. I employed the Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST) to obtain the values for the minimum power, maximum power, average power, and fatigue index of the participant, the 3-minute bench step test to obtain the values for the recovery heart rate of the participant, and anthropometric measurements to obtain the values for the BMI and body fat percentage of the participants. The duration of the intervention was 6 weeks with 2 sessions per week for a total of 12 training sessions. The test results were analyzed at 95% level of significance using the Wilcoxon Sign Rank test.

The subjects I chose are willing to be placed in an aquatic environment during training sessions, wear proper swimming attire and submit the PAR-Q test and signed consent form before being considered as research subjects. Due to varying time schedules, I wasn't able to set a constant training time for all my subjects as we have different class schedules. Therefore, I required my subjects to set two training sessions with me every week. To prevent the varying water temperature that the subjects would be placed in, I required my subjects to schedule afternoon training sessions between the time of 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Furthermore, to prevent the varying water depth that the subjects would be placed in, I required my subjects to train in the area where the water level is just within the range of the tip of their chin and jugular notch. Due to time constraints, I was able to execute the intervention for 6 weeks only.

To obtain the anaerobic capacity of the subjects, I utilized the Running-based Anaerobic Sprint Test which measures the maximum power, minimum power, average power and fatigue index by obtaining the time of the sprints of the subjects. The subjects were given 6 sprint runs with ten seconds rest between each sprint run. Each run is timed then the time is recorded and placed into an excel file, which already has the formula for each of the power variables. 

Summary of Findings