MISCELLANEOUS
Training Effects of Long Versus Short
of Exercise in Healthy Subjects
Robert F. DeBusk, MD, Ulf Stenestrand, MD, Mary Sheehan, MS, and William L. Haskell, PhD
To evaluate the ‘threshold” duration of exercise
required to produce training effects, 18 healthy
men aged 51 f 6 years comple6ng 30 mimrtes of
exercise training/day were compared with 18 men
aged 52 f 6 years completing three lo-minute
bouts of exercise/day, each separated by at least 4
hours. Exercise training intensity was moderate
(6s to 75% of peak treadmill heart rate). During
the &week study period VO2 max imased signifi-
cantly in both groups from 33.3 f 3.2 to 37.9 f
3.5 ml/kg/min in men performing long exercise
bouts and from 32.1 f 4.6 to 34.5 f 4.5 ml/kg/
min in men performing short exercise bouts (p
<O.OS within and between groups). Adherence to
unsupewised exercise training performed at home
and at wock by men in long and short bouts was
high; total duration of training completed was 96
and 93% of the prescribed amount and total num-
ber of sesslons completed was 92 and 93% of that
prescribed, respectively. In both groups exercise
heart rate measured by a portable microprocessor
was within or above the prescrlbsd range for
>6S% of the prescribed duration. Thus, multiple
shorl bouts of moderate-intensity exercise training
slgnifkantly increcue peak oxygen uptake. For
many individuals short bouts of exercise training
may fit better into a busy schedule than a single
long bout.
(Am J Cardiol1990;65:1010-1013)
From the Stanford Cardiac Rehabilitation Program, Division of Cardi-
ology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medi-
cine, Palo Alto, California. This study was supported in part by grant
HL-36272 from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Bethes-
da, Maryland. Manuscript received August 31, 1989; revised manu-
script received and accepted December 14, 1989.
Address for reprints: Robert F. DeBusk, MD, 780 Welch Road,
Suite 106, Palo Alto, California 94304.
1010 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY VOLUME 65
Bouts
rends toward greater participation in physical ex-
T ercise conditioning by the American public during
the past 2 decades appear to be stabilizing or re-
versing.1,2 This may reflect in part a perceived or actual
reduction in leisure time as Americans work longer
hours or undertake multiple jobs. Lack of time is often
stated as the reason for nonparticipation in physical ex-
ercisem3Many individuals believe that physical benefits
from exercise accrue only with exercise bouts of 120
minutes, consistent with exercise guidelines developed
by the American Heart Association.4 Shorter bouts are
perceived by many to be of little value in enhancing
physical fitness.
A regimen 120 minutes of relatively intense exercise
performed L3 times/week is commonly used by re-
searchers to increase functional capacity.5 However,
short and long bouts of physical exercise of comparable
total duration might enhance physical fitness to a simi-
lar extent. To evaluate the “threshold” of exercise dura-
tion required to produce training effects we compared
the effects on functional capacity of a single “long” (30
minutes) bout of moderate-intensity exercise with 3
“short” (10 minutes) bouts of moderate-intensity physi-
cal exercise.
METHODS
Study population: Forty sedentary healthy men aged
40 to 60 years employed at the Lockheed Missiles and
Space Corporation in Sunnyvale, California, were re-
cruited with a notice in the company newsletter. Medi-
cal exclusions included heart disease, hypertension, dis-
orders limiting participants’ ability to perform exercise,
and smoking. Subjects >25% overweight, based on
1959 Metropolitan Life Insurance weight tables, were
excluded.6 All subjects had sedentary jobs. In the pre-
ceding 6 months they had not walked or jogged for >20
minutes continuously 23 times/week, walked a total of
60 minutes/day 23 times/week or participated in any
active sport >l time/week.
A pretraining medical examination included record-
ing of a 1Zlead electrocardiogram, body height and
weight and triplicate measurement of resting blood
pressure using a Hawksley random zero device. Symp-
tom-limited treadmill exercise testing was performed
using a multistage protocol with continuous monitoring
of the electrocardiogram and oxygen uptake. Workload
was increased by 2 METS or 2 multiples of resting ener-
gy consumption every 2 minutes. Oxygen uptake was
measured using an on-line, computer-based open-circuit
method. Blood pressure was recorded during the last 30
seconds of each treadmill workload. This evaluation was
repeated after 8 weeks of exercise training.
 After the pretraining treadmill test, subjects were
randomly assigned to 1 of 2 exercise training groups.
Twenty subjects were assigned to a single “long” exer-
cise bout of 30 minutes daily and the other 20 to 3 daily
“short” exercise bouts of 10 minutes, each separated by
at least 4 hours. Exercise was performed at home or at
work by subjects training alone. There was no medical
supervision. Subjects were instructed in monitoring their
exercise pulse rate and were provided with an electronic
heart rate monitor (ExerSentry Model ExIIIA, Com-
puter Instruments Corp.) to help them to exercise with-
in their training heart rate range. They were requested
to make no major changes in their diet.
Both training regimens consisted of 30 minutes of
jogging/day at an intensity producing a heart rate 65 to
75% of the peak heart rate attained during the pretrain-
ing treadmill exercise test. This corresponded to a range
from 116 to 133 beats/min. This moderate-intensity
regimen was chosen beause it minimizes sweating and
was well received by participants of our previous train-
ing studies.‘J Training occurred 5 days/week over a pe-
riod of 8 weeks.
Subjects recorded the adherence to exercise on logs
which were completed daily and mailed to a project
staff every 2 weeks. These logs also inquired about the
following aspects of each exercise bout: heart rate dur-
ing the last minute; rating of perceived exertion during
the last minute on a scale from 6 to 209; overall level of
enjoyment; and level of convenience and whether sweat-
ing occurred. Responses to continuous variables were
E :
Hl:O... :
E
H .
R Inn.
T *--.
F’ :
FIGURE 1. A, single long exercise bout. 6,3
pooled across bouts for each individual. Responses to
the question regarding sweating were pooled for each
individual.
A staff member called each participant every 2
weeks to check on progress, to review the previous log
and to answer questions. For 2 days on 2 occasions dur-
ing the 8-week training period, subjects wore a portable
solid state microcomputer (Vitalog Inc.) connected to
the chest by electrocardiographic electrodes and con-
nected to a motion sensor attached to the thigh.‘O This
provided a continuous recording of heart rate and body
movements throughout the day (Figures 1A and 1B).
These recordings were analyzed to verify self-reported
exercise intensity, duration and frequency by methods
previously described. lo Differences in body weight, rest-
ing blood pressure and treadmill test variables between
the 2 groups before and after training were compared
by 2 sample t tests. A p value of <0.05 was statistically
significant.
RESULTS
No medical complications occurred during exercise
testing or training. No ischemic treadmill test responses
were noted. Of the 40 subjects randomized, 36 complet-
ed the exercise training and the postraining measure-
ments. Two subjects in each group dropped out because
they were unable to meet the time requirements of the
study.
Subjects completed 38 of 40 assigned long exercise
bouts (93%) and 112 of 120 assigned short exercise
short exercise bouts.
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY APRIL 15, 1990 1011
 bouts (93%). The average training heart rate reported
on the exercise logs by subjects completing long and
short exercise bouts was 127 f 9 and 124 f 15 beats/
min, respectively, corresponding to 71 and 70% of peak
treadmill heart rate.
The total duration of short and long bouts completed
over the 8-week period was 96 and 93% of the 1,200
minutes prescribed. Exercise heart rate measured by the
Vitalog was within or above the prescribed range 84%
of the time for long bouts (Figure 2A) and 86% for
short bouts (Figure 2B). The average duration of train-
ing sessions was 31.9 minutes for long bouts and 11.7
minutes for short bouts.
Pooled responses to questions regarding the circum-
stances of each exercise bout in subjects completing
long and short exercise bouts, respectively, were as fol-
lows: mean heart rate 127 f 9 versus 124 f 15 (differ-
ence not significant); rating of perceived exertion 12.2
f 1.4 versus 11.2 + 1.6 (difference not significant);
overall enjoyment scaled 1 to 10 (least to most), 7.3 f
1.2 versus 7.3 f 1.7; and overall convenience scaled 1 to
10, 7.3 f 1.2 versus 7.3 f 1.7. Sweating occurred in
84% of long exercise bouts and in 65% of short bouts
(difference not significant).
Maximal oxygen uptake increased 13.9% in the long
bout group from 33.3 f 3 to 37.7 f 7 ml/kg/min (p
<O.OOOl) and 7.6% in the short bout group from 32.1 f
3.5 to 34.6 f 3.4 ml/kg/min (p = 0.0064). This in-
crease was significantly (p = 0.03) greater in the long
bout group. Exercise test duration increased approxi-
mately 12% in both the long (14.5 f 1.8 to 16.3 f 1.5
minutes, p <O.Ol) and the short bout (13.5 f 2.2 to
14.9 f 2.3 minutes, p X0.01) groups, respectively. The
peak treadmill heart rate was comparable in both
groups before and after training; 178 f 12 and 175 f
10 beats/mm, respectively. Heart rate at submaximal
exercise decreased approximately 6% in both the long
(122 to 114 beats/min, p <O.OOl) and the short (128 to
120 beats/mm, p <O.OOl) groups. No significant
changes in blood pressure during submaximal or maxi-
mal exercise occurred in either group.
Mean pretraining body weight was 81.8 and 84.7 kg
for long- and short-bout groups, respectively. Decreases
in weight after training were similar for long- and short-

155

145 ABOVE TARGET HR RAN IGE

10.4 MINUTES (3 3%)
I?
g 135
ii
; IN TARGET HR RANGE
- 125
16.3 MINUTES (51%)
z
i 115

LJ BELOW TARGET HR RANGE

E 5.2 MINUTES (16%)
105
AVERAGE SESSION DURATION = 31.9 MINUTES
I I I I I
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
FIGURE 2. A, heart rate (HR) during long
MINUTES boutsofexerdse.8,heartratefhming
shertbeutsefexerclse.

145
ABOVE TARGET HR RANGE
E-
1.9 MINUTES (17%)
g 135
S
IN TARGET HR RANGE
? 125
7.7 MINUTES (69%)
d

-u
& 115
BELOW TARGET HR RANGE
f
1.6 MINUTES (14%)

AVERAGE SESSION DURATION = 11.7 MINUTES

B 0 5 10 15
MINUTES

1012 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY VOLUME 65

bout groups; 1.75 and 1.79 kg, respectively. This is ap- similar to those of the present study have shown a sig-
proximately the weight loss expected from the increased nificant physiologic effect of moderate-intensity exercise
caloric expenditure attributable to exercise. training.7J ’ Leisure time physical activity exerts impor-
tant protective effects against ischemic heart disease
DISCUSSION events.i2 This protection appears to accrue even with
The results of this study indicate that multiple short moderate exercise; high intensity exercise affords little
bouts of moderate-intensity physical exercise produce additional benefit. I 3
significant training effects. Multiple short bouts of exer-
cise increased peak oxygen uptake 57% as much as a
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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY APRIL 15. 1990 1013