A Review of the Physiological Effects of Intense Interval Training; Adaptations Related to Some Health Factors in Military Personnel (Meta-Analysis Study)

Health at the community is the first priority in human society. All military personnel try to improve and maintain their health through different ways. Intense interval training induces physiological adaptations similar to traditional endurance training and it enhances performance during tasks that rely primarily on aerobic energy metabolism. Therefore, the current study has been performed to review the physiological effects of intense interval training and it were reviews the adjustments related to some health factors in military personnel.

Methods and Materials:

 The effect of HIIT on health factors in military personnel was searched until August 2022. The search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials, Google Scholar, and Scopus databases. Hedges’s g effect size (the ratio of the mean difference of two groups to the weighted standard deviation of the composite) was used for meta-analysis. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2.0 software was used for data analysis.

6 studies were included in the meta-analysis among the studies included in the present research. Intense interval training has a significant effect with a 95% confidence interval (0.22-1.7) on increasing VO2max (P=0.001) and intense interval training with a 95% confidence interval (0.05-1.58) has a significant effect on BMI (P=0.04) in military personnel.

The results of the present meta-analysis show that HIIT improves health indicators (maximum oxygen consumption and body mass index) in military personnel.