Seasonal influence on adherence to and effects of an interval walking training program on sedentary female college students in Japan

Habitual exercise training is recommended to young people for their health promotion, but adherence may be influenced by atmospheric temperature ( T a ) if performed outdoors. We compared the adherence to and the effects of a home-based interval walking training (IWT) program on sedentary female college students between winter and summer. For summer training over 176 days, 48 subjects (18–22 years old) were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (CNT summer , n = 24), which maintained a sedentary lifestyle as before, and the IWT group (IWT summer , n = 24), which performed IWT while energy expenditure was monitored by accelerometry. For winter training over 133 days, another group of 47 subjects (18–24 years old) was randomly divided into CNT winter ( n = 24) and IWT winter ( n = 23), as in summer. The peak T a per day was 26 ± 6 °C (SD) (range of 9–35 °C) in summer, much higher than 7 ± 5 °C (range of − 3–20 °C) in winter ( P