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Objective: Compelling evidence has shown that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is associated with substantial increases in physical fitness. However, little is known about whether and how individuals experience these adaptations over time. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to explore how physically inactive young adults subjectively experience physical fitness and its development as they start to exercise and how these experiences relate to different intensity domains (i.e., moderate and severe) as well as to training modes [i.e., HIIT and moderate intensity continuous training (MICT)] and their sequential administration (i.e., HIIT-MICT and MICT-HIIT)., Methods: Thirty-one inactive participants completed a 15-week two-period sequential exercise intervention in which they first trained for six weeks in a HIIT or a MICT group and subsequently switched training modes. Interviews using the biographical mapping method were conducted at the end of the intervention to assess participants' exercise- and fitness-related experiences over the past weeks. To assess experiential patterns, we conducted a reflexive thematic analysis., Results: We developed three themes that represent the temporal and processual character of starting to exercise after a prolonged period of inactivity: (1) Inactive young adults are not all the same when starting to exercise; (2) Developing physical fitness is a multi-faceted and individual experience; and (3) Feeling physically fit (or not) fosters large-scale effects., Conclusion: Our results show that, in retrospect, participants mostly deemed HIIT to be more effective than MICT. Our findings also emphasize that physical fitness is a complex and subjective experience that manifests in various ways over time. The idiosyncrasy of physical fitness experiences reiterates the necessity for individually tailored exercise prescriptions instead of one-size-fits-all approaches., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Gropper, John, Sudeck and Thiel.)

University students are of particular public health interest because they are at high risk for physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors. In conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, sedentariness and physical inactivity were reinforced, as the pandemic led to an increase in home studying. Physical activity (PA) breaks have been identified as promoting factors for university students' physical and mental health. Therefore, the present study explored an approach to nudge students to take PA breaks at home while studying. The purpose was to test the effectiveness of digital nudging for PA breaks for 10 days using a randomized intervention design during the COVID-19 pandemic. It included an intervention group who received daily digital motivational prompts for PA break videos and a minimal intervention control group who got low-level access to PA break videos via a one-time link sent to the media library. Using a sample of university students in the southwest of Germany ( n = 57), two-level binary logistic regression models were calculated to predict daily participation in PA breaks during the intervention period depending on the nudging intervention, as well as previous participation in PA breaks, the general PA level of the subjects before the intervention, the time spent on PA and on home studying in a day, the kind of day during the intervention (weekday vs. weekend), and the students' age. Results revealed that the digital nudging intervention did not show any significant effect on the likelihood to participate in PA breaks on a given day (0.69 ≤ β ≤ 0.75, p > 0.3). Instead, an individual-level effect revealed that the longer a student studied at home over the course of a day, the more likely he or she was to take a PA break (1.07 ≤ β ≤ 1.11, p < 0.001). Current findings show that individual characteristics such as daily time spent on home studying, which can change over the course of the intervention phase, are relevant considerations within nudging intervention in university setting. This provides initial insights especially for digital PA breaks for students during home studying., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Teuber, Leyhr, Moll and Sudeck.)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate a potential psychological mechanism of green exercise on perceived stress. More precisely, it was analyzed whether the relationship between the natural environment of physical activity and perceived stress was mediated by recovery experiences, namely by psychological detachment and relaxation. An ecological momentary assessment approach was used, meaning that specific recovery experiences were assessed directly in real-life situations and multiple times. Materials and methods: Thirty five women and 27 men took part in the ecological momentary assessment study over seven days ( M age = 32.30 years, SD = 10.23, 53% had a degree from a university or a university of applied science). If participants were involved in PA lasting at least 10 min on a given day, they had to answer questionnaires on the smartphone both prior to the activity and immediately afterwards. Perceived naturalness, psychological detachment and relaxation were assessed after physical activity events, whereas perceived stress was measured before and after each physical activity event. A two-level mediation analysis was conducted. The direct and indirect effect of perceived naturalness on perceived stress after engagement in physical activity was analyzed on the within- and between-person levels. Results and conclusion: Results showed that the relaxation as a recovery experience served as mediator between perceived naturalness and perceived stress after engagement in physical activity, but only on a within-person level. This means that the more natural a given individual appraised the physical activity environment, the more relaxed he or she felt during physical activity (β = 0.3 22, p < 0.0005). Furthermore the more relaxed the individual was, the less stress he or she perceived after exercising (β = -0.221, p < 0.0005). The psychological detachment as a recovery experience in contrast, did not serve as mediator, neither at the within- and the between-person level. Considering the indirect effect of perceived naturalness on perceived stress and the importance of relaxation experiences, current findings suggest that research should put greater emphasis on examining the specific psychological mechanisms of green exercise to make even better use of its beneficial effects in the future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Schmid, Imbach, Klaperski and Sudeck.)

Objectives: The health-enhancing benefits or regular physical activity (PA) reach into old age. With the emergence of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated national lockdowns and restrictions, nursing home residents were restrained from being physically active. In our study, we aimed to assess the impact of the COVID-19-related restrictions on PA promotion in nursing homes from an organizational-sociological lens. Methods: We collected data in eight nursing homes in Germany. Data collection included (i) semistructured interviews focusing on COVID-19-related restrictions and their effects on nursing homes from the home administrators' perspectives; (ii) open-ended surveys with nursing home staff and relatives focusing on daily routines and contact restrictions; and (iii) collection of documents such as care concepts, mission statements, and weekly activity plans. We analyzed all data with a reflexive thematic analysis approach. Results: We identified three stages of COVID-19-related changes in nursing homes that impacted PA promotion, as follows: (1) external closure and search for emergency control, (2) organizational adaptations to create a livable daily life in the internal environment, and (3) slow reintegration of interactions with the external organizational environment. Document analysis revealed that PA promotion was not part of decision programs or internal staff work descriptions. Rather, PA promotion was delegated to external service providers. The assignment of PA promotion to external providers was not structurally anchored in decision programs, which makes PA promotion not sustainable, particularly during unforeseen events that limit access to the organization. During the pandemic, executive staff believed in internal staff to buffer competencies with regard to PA promotion. Thus, executive staff often considered PA promotion relevant, even during the pandemic, but thought that PA promotion is a task that can be fulfilled by unqualified but motivated internal staff. Conclusion: While our study participants showed a high level of coping-capacity belief, it remains unclear which long-term impacts of COVID-19 on PA promotion in nursing homes are to be expected. At the practice level, executive staff in nursing homes that aim to promote PA within their organization should become aware that PA promotion needs to be incorporated into organizational structures to be implemented and continued in challenging times such as in a pandemic., (Copyright © 2020 Frahsa, Altmeier, John, Gropper, Granz, Pomiersky, Haigis, Eschweiler, Nieß, Sudeck and Thiel.)

Objectives: Associations between the perceived social and physical environment and self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time (ST) were examined among adolescents in four European countries., Methods: Representative samples were surveyed with standardised methodologies. Associations between environmental variables and meeting MVPA recommendations and tertiles of ST were tested in gender-specific logistic regression models. Moderation by country and country-specific relationships were also examined., Results: The most consistent findings across countries were found for the significant associations between neighbourhood social environment and MVPA in both boys and girls. Significant associations with the physical environment varied more between countries and by gender. The most consistent negative associations with ST were found for the social environmental variable of having parental rules for spending time outside the home., Conclusions: The present findings provided evidence for the generalisability of the associations between environmental correlates and MVPA across four European countries. The findings show clear differences in correlates for MVPA and ST. Further research is needed to better understand the unique aspects of the social and physical environment which explain each of the two behaviours.