High vs Low-frequency of High-intensity Training in Chronic Stroke

Individuals will be asked to "cover as much ground as possible" over 6 mins. Heart rate will additionally be measured during this assessment (distance in m)

Individuals will participate in a walking-based graded exercise test. While harnessed for safety, a motorized treadmill will be initially set to 0.1 m/s and increased by 0.1 m/s each minute until the test is terminated due: 1) requests to stop, 2) unable to keep up with the treadmill and/or loses their balance, 3) absolute exercise test termination criteria provided by ACSM. The highest speed that the individual can walk for a minute at is the peak treadmill speed.

10 item assessment of dynamic balance. Example tasks include walking with head turns, with eyes closed, and walking backwards.

Participants will be asked to rise from a chair without using their arms and then return to sitting as many times as possible in 30 seconds.

This questionnaire asks individuals to rate their balance-confidence from 0 (no confidence) to 100 (completely confident) during a variety of 16 commonly performed tasks such as walking around a house or getting into a car.

Oxygen consumption will be measured via a portable metabolic cart (K5; COSMED) during the previously described graded exercise test. Participant will wear a snug fitting mask that covers their mouth and nose, but does not affect the amount or quality of air that they breathe. The mask will be connected to a small backpack that collects information on the rate of breathing and oxygen consumed.

This 36-question survey asks individuals about how their current health may limit their ability to perform typical physical and social activities.

Participants will wear a research-grade pedometer (StepWatch; Modus Health) during waking hours for ~1-2 weeks before beginning the training protocol, during the intervention period, and after completing training protocol to quantify home and community mobility. Participants will also be asked to document their daily minutes walked for exercise, number of walking bouts, where they performed the activity, and subjectively how hard they were working while walking for exercise.

This is an assessment of overground walking speed measured across a distance of ~20 feet and will be conducted at both self-selected (instructions: "walk at your usual, comfortable pace") and fastest (instructions: "walk as fast as you safely can") walking speeds on a pressure sensitive mat (speed in m/s; Zeno Walkway).