Intermittent Exercise at Lactate Threshold Induces Lower Acute Stress than Its Continuous Counterpart in Middle-to-Older Aged Men

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the degree of exhaustion and trophic effects between continuous exercise (CE) and intermittent exercise (IE) at lactate threshold (LT) intensity. Seven healthy men (age: 43–69 years) performed the following three experimental tests in a randomized crossover order: (1) control; (2) CE, performed as a 20-min of cycling at LT intensity; and (3) IE, performed as 20 sets of a one-min bout of cycling at LT intensity with a 30-s rest between every two sets. Heart rate (HR), blood lactate concentration (LA), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), catecholamines, cortisol, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were measured. The sampling timing in each test was as follows: 10 min before the onset of exercise, at the 25%, 50%, and 100% time points of exercise, and at 10 min after exercise. IE was found to be accompanied by a lower degree of exhaustion than CE in measures of HR, LA, RPE, catecholamines, and cortisol. In terms of trophic effects, both of IGF-1 and BDNF increased in CE, while a marginal increase of BDNF was observed in IE. The results indicated that IE induces lower stress than CE, but may not be effective for inducing trophic effects.