The Effects of Exercise Timing and Intensity on Motor Learning in Healthy Adults.

Long-term aerobic training are associated with improved motor learning. Recent studies have shown that even a single bout of moderate or high ıntensity aerobic exercise can lead to immediate improvements on motor learning. On the other hand, there is still insufficient knowledge about whether aerobic exercise should occur before or after motor practice and what the intensity of aerobic exercise should be. In this study, the ınvestigators examined the effects of a single bout of low and moderate intensity aerobic exercise applied before or after motor practice on golf putting task. Additionally, the ınvestıgators evaluated the effects of sleep quality on motor learning and the acute effects of the exercise on cognition. 75 young adults were divided into five groups: two groups that did low or moderate intensity aerobic exercise before motor practice (LOW-MP, MOD-MP), two groups that did aerobic exercise after motor practice (MP-LOW, MP-MOD), and non-exercise control group. The acquisition practice consisted of six blocks of ten golf puttings. The retention was also evaluated both 1 day and 7 days after the experimental day with one block each. The putting performance was measured with accuracy and consistency error scores were computed for each acquisition and retention block. The sleep quality of the night before and the experimental day were evaluated using the Richard Campbell Sleep Scale.

Inclusion criteria

• Age between 18-24 years
• Risk score less than two based on The American Heart Association (AHA) and American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) health/fitness facility pre-participation screening questionnaire
• Physical activity level>1500 MET/min weeks based on the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)

Exclusion criteria

• being elite athletes
• being smokers
• using psychiatric/neurologic medications.