Effects of prior heavy exercise onV˙o 2 kinetics during heavy exercise are related to changes in muscle activity

Abstract

We hypothesized that the elevated primary O2 uptake (V˙o 2) amplitude during the second of two bouts of heavy cycle exercise would be accompanied by an increase in the integrated electromyogram (iEMG) measured from three leg muscles (gluteus maximus, vastus lateralis, and vastus medialis). Eight healthy men performed two 6-min bouts of heavy leg cycling (at 70% of the difference between the lactate threshold and peakV˙o 2) separated by 12 min of recovery. The iEMG was measured throughout each exercise bout. The amplitude of the primary V˙o 2 response was increased after prior heavy leg exercise (from mean ± SE 2.11 ± 0.12 to 2.44 ± 0.10 l/min, P < 0.05) with no change in the time constant of the primary response (from 21.7 ± 2.3 to 25.2 ± 3.3 s), and the amplitude of theV˙o 2 slow component was reduced (from 0.79 ± 0.08 to 0.40 ± 0.08 l/min, P < 0.05). The elevated primary V˙o 2 amplitude after leg cycling was accompanied by a 19% increase in the averaged iEMG of the three muscles in the first 2 min of exercise (491 ± 108 vs. 604 ± 151% increase above baseline values, P < 0.05), whereas mean power frequency was unchanged (80.1 ± 0.9 vs. 80.6 ± 1.0 Hz). The results of the present study indicate that the increased primaryV˙o 2 amplitude observed during the second of two bouts of heavy exercise is related to a greater recruitment of motor units at the onset of exercise.