We are delighted that Matthew Farrow will be going to the ECSS (European College of Sport Science) Congress in Dublin to give a 10 minute oral presentation “Virtual-reality exergaming can increase enjoyment and performance during high-intensity interval training”. This is a great example of our cross-departmental work, with exergaming data from Computer Science being used for Health applications. You can read our related post on exergaming here.

The health benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) are well-known and it is becoming an increasingly popular form of exercise. However, the general population often struggle to motivate themselves to a) adhere to long-term HIIT training programmes, and b) exercise at a sufficient intensity to elicit the health benefits of HIIT. Therefore, we tested if delivering HIIT though a virtual-reality exergame could be a viable solution to these issues. The game allowed participants to visualise and compete against their previous performance.

We found that enjoyment and indicators of motivation were highest when playing the game compared to no game, and that if we increased the resistance on the stationary bike, participants would work up to 10% harder without these markers being negatively impacted. Virtual-reality exergaming needs to be tested in the long-term but appears to be a promising way of motivating individuals to perform HIIT.

Farrow, M., Lutteroth, C., Rouse, P., & Bilzon, J. L. J. (2018). Virtual-reality exergaming can increase enjoyment and performance during high-intensity interval training. Abstract for the 23th European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Dublin, Ireland.