Study protocol of the Aerobic exercise and CogniTIVe functioning in women with breAsT cancEr (ACTIVATE) trial: a two-arm, two-centre randomized controlled trial

Table 1 Details of supervised and home-based exercise prescription for participants on a 3-week chemotherapy cycle protocol

Cycle	Week	Supervised Program			Home-based Program
		Freq.	Duration (minutes)	Intensity (% HRR)	Freq.	Duration (minutes)	Intensity (RPE)
1	1	3	20–25	50–55^a, 55–60	0	0	0
	2	3	30	55–60	0	0	0
	3	3	25–30	60–65	1	15–20	12–13
2	4	3	30–35	50–55^a, 60–65	1	15–20	12–13
	5	3	25–35	60–65, VT	1	15–20	12–13
	6	3	25–35	60–65, VT	1	20–30	12–13
3	7	3	35–40	55–60^a, 60–65	1	20–30	12–13
	8	3	25–35	65–70, VT	1	20–30	12–13
	9	3	25–35	65–70, VT	1	20–30	12–13
4	10	3	35–40	55–60^a, 65–70	1	20–30	12–13
	11	3	20–35	65–70, HIIT	1	20–30	12–13
	12	3	20–40	65–70, HIIT	1	20–30	12–13
5	13	3	40	55–60^a, 65–70	1	20–30	12–13
	14	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
	15	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
6	16	3	40	55–60^a, 65–70	1	20–30	12–13
	17	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
	18	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
7	19	3	40	55–60^a, 65–70	1	20–30	12–13
	20	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
	21	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
8	22	3	40	55–60^a, 65–70	1	20–30	12–13
	23	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13
	24	3	20–35	70–75, VT/HIIT^b	1	20–30	12–13

Freq. Frequency, HIIT high-intensity interval training session (10–16 bouts of 30 s at 100% peak workload and 1–2 min of active recovery), HRR Heart rate reserve, RPE Rating of perceived exertion, VT ventilatory threshold session (4 bouts of 5 min at VT and 3 min of active recovery)
^aThe first exercise session immediately after chemotherapy infusion is prescribed at 50–55% HRR (first two cycles) and 50–60% HRR (remaining cycles) (i.e., 5–10% reduction in workload). ^bAfter Cycle 5, VT and HIIT sessions are prescribed based on participants' preference. Participants perform a 5-min warm-up before and 5-min cool-down after each exercise session

ISSN: 1471-2407