2. Materials and methods
2.1. Participants
Sixteen participants (8 women and 8 men) completed the three
experimental sessions. All participants were individually interviewed
to evaluate whether they met the inclusion criteria: 1) between the
ages of 18 and 45 years; 2) participated in less than 150 min of exercise
per week, which is below the Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology
(CSEP) recommended physical activity guidelines for adults [28];3)
no heart problems; 4) regular menstrual cycle; 5) non-diabetic; 6) stable
weight (±4 kg) within the last six months, and 7) no excessive
consumption of alcohol, no drug/medication consumption and nonsmoker.
All participants were healthy and had no orthopedic complications
that could limit exercise, and were not taking any medications that
could affect cardiovascular function and/or metabolism. The study was
conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of
Helsinki and all procedures involving human participants were approved
by the University of Ottawa Ethics Committee. Written informed
consent was obtained from all participants.
2.2. Procedure of the experimentation
This study used a randomized crossover design. Participants took
part in a preliminary session followed by three experimental sessions.
An overview of the protocol employed for each experimental session
is presented in Fig. 1. A washout period of at least seven days separated
each session. Women were only tested between days one and eight of