Children's Oxygen Consumption Responses to Self-Paced Active Play and Prescribed Treadmill Exercise

The intensity and intervals of physical activity (PA) are important in eliciting dose-dependent physical and physiological adaptations. The objectives of the study were to examine the VO2 responses plus accelerometer-based PA of children (n=8; 9.0 1.3 yrs) and young adults n=5; 21.7 2.4 yrs) during exercise and recovery from continuous, successive bouts of intermittent ordered versus intermittent random prescribed treadmill exercise (TM) at 4, 6, 8 and 10 km/hr (0%grade) and childrens (n=12; 9.6 1.5 yrs) self-paced active play (AP). Children showed a faster VO2 recovery (p<0.05) for the random TM. During AP, there was a poor relationship (r= -0.02) between accelerometer-measured PA and relative VO2. AP resulted in a 2.1:1 moderate-vigorous (MVPA):light-rest (LPA) intensity PA interval. In conclusion, the variable intensities and the MVPA:LPA ratios identified for AP may serve as a viable alternative to prescribed or paced exercise programs for promoting physiological benefits.