Participants
COVID-19 INFECTION
Sixty-two adults, aged between 20–40 years old, expressed interest, providing written informed consent and were recruited into the study by the end of January 2021. Of these, 45 participants (males: n = 25; females: n = 20) completed the study; 17 withdrew during the study, either due to COVID-19 infection (n = 5) or did not state a reason (n = 12). All participants were British and from the UK Midlands and East Anglia area, confirming that they have not undertaken any endurance training in the previous 8-weeks prior to the start of the study, and were untrained, free from injury, and able-bodied (verified through a pre-health and readiness to exercise questionnaire). Ethical approval was granted by the researchers’ institutional ethics board (approval number: FSE/FREP/19/864) (