Abstract
Purpose
We aimed to identify a blood flow restriction (BFR) endurance exercise protocol that would both maximize cardiopulmonary and metabolic strain, and minimize the perception of effort.
Methods
Twelve healthy males (23 ± 2 years, 75 ± 7 kg) performed five different exercise protocols in randomized order: HI, high-intensity exercise starting at 105% of the incremental peak power (P peak); I-BFR30, intermittent BFR at 30% P peak; C-BFR30, continuous BFR at 30% P peak; CON30, control exercise without BFR at 30% P peak; I-BFR0, intermittent BFR during unloaded exercise. Cardiopulmonary, gastrocnemius oxygenation (StO2), capillary lactate ([La]), and perceived exertion (RPE) were measured.
Results
V̇O2, ventilation (V̇ E), heart rate (HR), [La] and RPE were greater in HI than all other protocols. However, muscle StO2 was not different between HI (set1—57.8 ± 5.8; set2—58.1 ± 7.2%) and I-BRF30 (set1—59.4 ± 4.1; set2—60.5 ± 6.6%, p < 0.05). While physiologic responses were mostly similar between I-BFR30 and C-BFR30, [La] was greater in I-BFR30 (4.2 ± 1.1 vs. 2.6 ± 1.1 mmol L−1, p = 0.014) and RPE was less (5.6 ± 2.1 and 7.4 ± 2.6; p = 0.014). I-BFR30 showed similar reduced muscle StO2 compared with HI, and increased blood lactate compared to C-BFR30 exercise.
Conclusion
Therefore, this study demonstrate that endurance cycling with intermittent BFR promotes muscle deoxygenation and metabolic strain, which may translate into increased endurance training adaptations while minimizing power output and RPE.
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Abbreviations
- BFR:
-
Blood flow restriction
- HI:
-
High-intensity
- P peak :
-
Peak power
- I-BFR30:
-
Intermittent
- C-BFR30:
-
Continuous Blood Flow Restriction at 30% of peak power
- CON30:
-
Control exercise at 30% of peak power
- I-BFR0:
-
Intermittent Blood Flow Restriction during unloaded exercise
- StO2 :
-
Oxygenation
- [La]:
-
Capillary lactate
- RPE:
-
Perceived exertion
- V̇O2 :
-
Oxygen uptake
- V̇ E :
-
Ventilation uptake-
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- OBLA:
-
Onset blood lactate accumulation
- W:
-
Watts
- O2 :
-
Oxygen
- CO2 :
-
Dioxide of carbon
- O2Hb:
-
Oxyhemoglobin
- HHb:
-
Deoxyhemoglobin
- SD:
-
Standard deviation
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- mmHg:
-
Millimeters of mercury
- HIF-1a:
-
Hypoxia inducible factor-1a
- VEGF:
-
Vascular endothelial growth factor
- COPD:
-
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- CHF:
-
Congestive heart failure
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Acknowledgements
We thank the subjects for participating in this study, and CNPq and FAPESC for financial support. Rogerio B. Corvino was supported by a CAPES PhD fellowship.
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Communicated by Peter Krustrup.
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Corvino, R.B., Rossiter, H.B., Loch, T. et al. Physiological responses to interval endurance exercise at different levels of blood flow restriction. Eur J Appl Physiol 117, 39–52 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3497-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3497-5