Psychophysiological Responses To Self-paced Exercise Of Runners And Non-runners

PURPOSE: Speculation exists that exercise experience influences psychophysiological responses to self-paced exercise. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare physiological, exertional, and affective responses to exercise at a self-selected pace between runners and non-runners. METHODS: Fourteen endurance runners (age: 29.2 ± 7.3 yr, body mass: 66.3 ± 6.9 kg, O2max: 63.9 ± 3.4 ml.kg-1.min-1) and fourteen recreationally active subjects performing no systematic running (age: 28.4 ± 4.0 yr, body mass: 77.3 ± 7.9 kg, VO2max: 49.6 ± 6.4 ml.kg-1.min-1) were recruited. Each participant performed a maximal graded treadmill test and a 20-min exercise bout at a self-selected pace on treadmill. Physiological responses (oxygen uptake, VO2) were continuously measured throughout the 20-min self-paced exercise bout, whereas exertional (OMNI-Walk/Run RPE Scale) and affective (Feeling Scale, Hardy & Rejeski, 1989) responses were assessed every 5 min. interval. An ANOVA with repeated measures was used to examine group differences in psychophysiological responses during the 20-min treadmill exercise bout at a self-selected pace. RESULTS: Runners self-selected a faster treadmill speed than non-runners (14.0 ± 1.2 vs 9.0 ± 0.9 km.hr-1, respectively; P < 0.05). However, physiological responses relative to ventilatory threshold (89.5 ± 15.2 vs 93.5 ± 12.7 %VO2 at-VT) as well as exertional responses (4.3 ± 1.7 vs 4.7 ± 1.4 for runners and non-runners, respectively) to self-paced exercise did not differ between the groups. Conversely, runners exhibited more positive affective responses to self-paced exercise than non-runners (2.3 ± 2.0 vs 1.5 ± 2.1, respectively; P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that physiological and exertional responses, but not affective responses, to exercise at a self-selected pace are similar between runners and non-runners. These findings reinforces the idea that exercise experience may positively impact pleasure during self-paced exercise bouts.