Adherence
Progressive overload in cardiac rehabilitation is achieved primarily through increasing exercise duration rather than intensity, resulting in suboptimal cardiorespiratory fitness improvements.
For cardiac rehab, simply doing more minutes of exercise isn't enough if the intensity stays the same. To improve fitness, you must increase the effort (heart rate/resistance) as you get fitter, not just the time spent. Relying solely on duration leads to minimal fitness gains.
The key exercise training principle of progressive overload was only partially applied. Increases observed in exercise dose were due to increases in the duration of CV training, rather than combined with increases in exercise intensity [%HRR-CV and sRPE].
Why this rating
Observational study with strong Bayesian evidence for duration changes but anecdotal evidence for intensity/CRF changes; small sample size (n=30).
Source
Characterising the application of the “progressive overload” principle of exercise training within cardiac rehabilitation: A United Kingdom-based community programme
Alaa Khushhal et al. · PLoS ONE · 2020
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0237197
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