Weekend Warrior Exercise in Sedentary Female University Students

This single-center, single-blind, three-arm randomized controlled trial aims to compare the effects of weekend-concentrated exercise, regularly distributed exercise, and usual lifestyle on aerobic capacity and skeletal muscle strength in sedentary female university students. Sixty participants aged 18 to 25 years will be randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to a weekend warrior group, a regular exercise group, or a control group. The intervention will last 8 weeks. Both exercise groups will complete 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, combining resistance exercise and jogging, but the exercise sessions will be distributed differently across the week. The control group will maintain its usual lifestyle without receiving the prescribed exercise intervention. The primary outcomes are peak oxygen uptake and isokinetic peak torque. Secondary outcomes include body composition, maximal heart rate, maximal power and time to exhaustion, 12-minute run performance, isokinetic mean torque, physical activity, sleep quality, exercise self-efficacy, emotional status, cognitive function, adherence, feasibility, and exercise-related adverse events.

Inclusion Criteria: * Female university students aged 18 to 25 years. * Self-reported sedentary time of at least 6 hours per day, further assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). * No cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, metabolic, or musculoskeletal diseases. * Relatively regular menstrual cycles. * Able to understand the study procedures, willing to complete the intervention and assessments, and willing to provide written informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * Any condition identified through clinical assessment or health screening that makes participation in moderate-intensity exercise or exercise-to-exhaustion testing inappropriate. * Participation in regular exercise training, a systematic weight-loss or body-shaping program, or another exercise intervention study within the previous 3 months. * Recent substantial body-weight fluctuations that may affect body-composition assessment. * Cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological, metabolic, or musculoskeletal diseases, or current use of medications that may affect exercise performance, heart-rate responses, or muscle function. * Irregular menstrual cycles. * Inability to complete the 8-week intervention, post-intervention assessments, or required study records.