The effect of four weeks of intense interval training (HIT) on some aerobic and anaerobic indicators of the women of the Iranian national basketball team.

Intense interval training (HIT) is an effective approach to improve performance in the short term, the effect of this method of training on physiological functional adaptations in elite athletes is still unclear, so the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of four weeks of HIT on some functional and physiological variables.

For this purpose, 14 volunteer players of the Iranian women's national basketball team (with an average age of 23.0 ± 3.24 years, weight 63.6 ± 8.50 kg, and body mass index = 21.8 ± 3.15 kg/m2) were selected and randomly divided into two experimental (n=7) and control (n=7) groups. Before and after the exercises, the subjects performed 1 incremental test with breath gas analysis to determine some physiological variables and a Wingate test to determine maximum power (PPO) and average power (MPO). Both groups followed the same basketball training program for four weeks while the experimental group performed the anaerobic sprint protocol (RAST) as a HIT protocol twice a week along with the basketball training program.

The results of the ANCOVA test showed that the experimental group had a significant increase in VO2max (p=0.001), vLT (p=0.011), VO2max (p=0.001) and maximum oxygen pulse (p=0.001). Implementation of HIT also caused a significant increase in maximum power (p = 0.03) and average power (p = 0.02).

The present findings showed that the intense interval training program with short rest periods can increase aerobic and anaerobic performance in the short term.