Cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular endurance responses immediately and 2 months after a whole-body Tabata or vigorous-intensity continuous training intervention

Young adults (52 females, 16 males; age = 21 ± 3 years; V̇O_2peak: 41 ± 6 mL/(kg·min)) were randomized into 3 groups: (i) no-exercise control (CTL; n = 15), (ii) Tabata (n = 27), or (iii) vigorous-intensity continuous training (VICT; n = 26) groups for a 4-week supervised training period (4 sessions/week). V̇O_2peak, time-to-fatigue (TTF), 5 km time-trial performance (TT), and muscular endurance were assessed at baseline, post-training (POST), and 2-month follow-up (FU). Response confidence intervals (CI) were used to classify individuals as likely responders (R; CI > 0). Both exercise interventions increased TTF and TT at POST (both p < 0.01), but these benefits were maintained at FU after VICT only (p < 0.01). Push-up performance was increased at POST and FU (both p < 0.01) after Tabata. VICT resulted in a greater proportion of TTF R versus both groups at POST (CTL: 1/15; VICT: 19/26; Tabata: 9/27) and versus Tabata at FU (3/15; 13/26; 4/27). VICT also had a greater proportion of TT R versus CTL at POST (2/15; 17/26; 10/27). Tabata had a greater proportion of R for maximum push-up repetitions versus both groups at POST (3/15; 6/26; 18/27) and versus CTL at FU (2/15; 10/26; 18/27). Collectively, VICT appears to be more effective for improving cardiorespiratory fitness, whereas whole-body Tabata confers larger improvements in push-up performance following short-term training. Novelty: Vigorous-intensity continuous training elicits larger improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness versus whole-body Tabata. Individual response profiles parallel group-level changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and muscular endurance.