In endurance training, intensity cannot be replaced by volume
In Matomäki's research, untrained people were divided into two cycling groups for two and a half months. The first group cycled for long hours at an intensity equivalent to walking, starting with four hours per week and progressing to over ten hours in the final weeks. The second group did two to three weekly high-intensity sessions lasting no more than an hour.
The outcome was that the maximal endurance capacity improved only in the group that trained at high intensity. On the other hand, low-intensity endurance performance, such as fatigue resistance, improved equally in both groups.
“When sufficient intensity was lacking, even an exceptionally large training volume did not lead to a comprehensive improvement in endurance fitness,” Matomäki says.
“However, it is noteworthy that low-intensity training still had its benefits.”
The result also implies that the lowest effective training intensity is not unambiguous. Instead, it depends on what aspect of fitness a person wants to develop.
“For example, fatigue resistance improve at a lower intensity than maximal endurance capacity," Matomäki explains.
Exercise enjoyment does not affect endurance development
From another perspective, the dissertation also found that the enjoyment experienced after exercise did not predict the development of maximal endurance capacity or the perceived training load.
“Exercise enjoyment seems to be rather independent of physiology,” Matomäki says.
“For example, whether the training feels pleasant or unpleasant does not affect the development of maximal endurance capacity.”
Pekka Matomäki will defend his doctoral dissertation Effects of a 10-Week Low and High Intensity Training Intervention on Performance Abilities—With a Special Reference to Durability on 18 October 2024 at 12 noon in the C4 Hall of the Capitolium Building at the Ģֱ.
His opponent is Professor Andrew Jones, University of Exeter and the custos is Professor Heikki Kyröläinen, Ģֱ. The public defense will be held in English.
The doctoral dissertation .
More information:
Pekka Matomäki
pejamato@jyu.fi
+35844 9828 506
