Research Question
It has become evident throughout the years that physical inactivity leads to an increased risk of mortality as well as significant cardiovascular morbidity, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the implementation of an individualized exercise prescription plays a crucial role in comprehensive cardiovascular care. In this context, the individual response of physical fitness and disease-related factors (e.g., cardiometabolic risk) to exercise training varies highly. Yet, it is unclear whether health-related improvements are mainly due to individual factors or are the result of a specific dose of exercise. On an interdisciplinary level we analyze how physiological responses relate to health- and activity-related biographies, the body image, and affective and epigenetic responses.
Methods
The present investigation aims to obtain valid instruments which allow a prediction and optimization of the dose-response relationship of exercise training, and therefore to improve individual training counselling in the preventive and therapeutic setting. Moreover, we aim to investigate whether the physiological response depends on the type of exercise (moderate-intensity continuous training versus aerobic interval training), and whether there are gender-specific adaptations.
