Oxygen uptake kinetics following six weeks of interval and continuous endurance exercise training - An explorative pilot study.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to compare the responses of pulmonary (V˙O2 pulm) and muscle (V˙O2 musc) oxygen uptake kinetics before (PRE) and after (POST) six weeks of endurance exercise training.

METHODS: Nine untrained individuals performed pseudo-random binary sequences work rate changes between 30W and 80W at PRE and POST training intervention. Heart rate (HR) and V˙O2 pulm were measured beat-to-beat and breath-by-breath, respectively. V˙O2 musc was estimated applying the approach of Hoffmann et al. (Eur J Appl Physiol 113: 1745-1754, 2013).

RESULTS: Maximal oxygen uptake showed significant increases from PRE (3.2±0.3Lmin-1 ) to POST (3.7±0.2Lmin-1 ; p<0.05). For HR, V˙O2 pulm and V˙O2 musc kinetics no significant changes from PRE to POST training intervention were observed (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Discrepancies in the adaptations of the involved exercise induced physiological systems seem to be responsible for the observed significant alterations in maximal V˙O2 after six weeks of the training intervention in contrast to no changes in the kinetics responses.