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  • HIITCopter: Implicitly inducing high intensity training workouts within a virtual game environment

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  • The increasing prevalence of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes as well as other adverse health conditions related to an inactive or sedentary lifestyle has prompted widespread concern. Research has demonstrated that one particular form of exercise known as high-intensity interval training (HIIT) effectively improves overall cardiovascular health and fitness. However, research has suggested that HIIT is difficult to sustain for novices as it is difficult to evaluate the right training intensity level. Furthermore, it is easy for those unaccustomed to HIIT to overexert and injure themselves. This paper investigates whether an exergame can successfully induce an HIIT workout, reduce overexertion, and increase performance, enjoyment and motivation when compared to a standard instruction based HIIT workout.

    We have designed a novel rowing-machine based exergame that is based on HIIT, named HIITCopter. This game utilises adaptive personalisation of game mechanics to suit a user's fitness level to address these major issues. The game employs a range of feedback mechanisms to dynamically adjust the intensity of exercise. These include the measurement and subsequent adaptation of heart rate, as well as a warm-up period. Additionally, our exergame provides immersive gameplay which aims to disguise the inherent discomfort associated with HIIT as well as avoiding the negative connotations of a traditional instructed HIIT workout.

    Our exergame was evaluated in a user study and results were very promising. Through quantitative evaluation, it was found that we were able to successfully induce an HIIT workout through gameplay in HIITCopter alone. However, it was found that there was no significant different in both overexertion and performance for users playing HIITCopter, when compared to the standard instruction based HIIT workout. Through qualitative analysis, overwhelmingly it was found that the enjoyment and motivation levels of all users was improved when playing our exergame compared to the standard instruction based HIIT workout. 

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