Comparing Two Different Exercise Prescription Methods To Increase Physical Activity Among College Students

Most Americans do not meet the physical activity (PA) guidelines of 150 min of moderate and/or 75 min of weekly vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise or a combination of both and 2 d/wk of resistance exercise. Thus, there is a call for scalable and easily implemented strategies to increase PA. PURPOSE: To compare two different exercise prescription (ExRx) methods for increasing PA with the message: ExRx#1, meet the PA guidelines, or ExRx#2, perform as much PA as possible of any frequency, intensity, time, and type. We hypothesized ExRx#2 would increase PA more than ExRx#1 over the 12 wk intervention. METHODS: Healthy college students (n = 78) were enrolled and randomized to ExRx#1 (n = 39) or ExRx#2 (n = 39). Of these, 53 students (24.0 ± 5.1 yr, 25.1 ± 3.6 m•kg-2) began the intervention (ExRx#1 n = 29; ExRx#2 n = 24) of which 71% were females who performed ≤2 d of structured PA in the last 12 wk. We measured PA via accelerometry and the Timeline Followback (TLFB-E) at baseline and 12 wk. RMANCOVA tested differences within and between groups. RESULTS: At baseline, via accelerometry, ExRx#1 performed 93.1 ± 46.5 min/d of moderate-vigorous intensity (MVPA) PA and ExRx#2 performed 91.4 ± 46.5 min/d of MVPA, with no difference between groups (p = 0.92). Over 12 wk, via accelerometry, MVPA min/wk was not different from baseline for ExRx#1 and ExRx#2 (ps > 0.05). Over 12 wk, via the TLFB-E, ExRx#2 performed 1.1 ± 3.1 more PA sessions/wk (3.2 ± 1.5) than ExRx#1 (2.1 ± 1.5, p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: When assessed by accelerometry, PA was not different from baseline, regardless of the ExRx method, whereas frequency increased ~1 d/wk more in ExRx#2 than ExRx#1 via the TLFB-E. Our findings illustrate the importance of utilizing both objective and self-report PA assessments to capture the different PA behaviors that may be influenced by different ExRx methods. Supported By: The University of Connecticut's Health Fitness Research Laboratory