Abstract
Purpose
The aim was to compare changes in peripheral and cerebral oxygenation, as well as metabolic and performance responses during conditions of blood flow restriction (BFR, bilateral vascular occlusion at 0% vs. 45% of resting pulse elimination pressure) and systemic hypoxia (~ 400 m, FIO2 20.9% vs. ~ 3800 m normobaric hypoxia, FIO2 13.1 ± 0.1%) during repeated sprint tests to exhaustion (RST) between leg- and arm-cycling exercises.
Methods
Seven participants (26.6 ± 2.9 years old; 74.0 ± 13.1 kg; 1.76 ± 0.09 m) performed four sessions of RST (10-s maximal sprints with 20-s recovery until exhaustion) during both leg and arm cycling to measure power output and metabolic equivalents as well as oxygenation (near-infrared spectroscopy) of the muscle tissue and prefrontal cortex.
Results
Mean power output was lower in arms than legs (316 ± 118 vs. 543 ± 127 W; p < 0.001) and there were no differences between conditions for a given limb. Arms demonstrated greater changes in concentration of deoxyhemoglobin (∆[HHb], − 9.1 ± 6.1 vs. − 6.5 ± 5.6 μm) and total hemoglobin concentration (∆[tHb], 15.0 ± 10.8 vs. 11.9 ± 7.9 μm), as well as the absolute maximum tissue saturation index (TSI, 62.0 ± 8.3 vs. 59.3 ± 8.1%) than legs, respectively (p < 0.001), demonstrating a greater capacity for oxygen extraction. Further, there were greater changes in tissue blood volume [tHb] during BFR only compared to all other conditions (p < 0.01 for all).
Conclusions
The combination of BFR and/or hypoxia led to increased changes in [HHb] and [tHb] likely due to greater vascular resistance, to which arms were more responsive than legs.
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Abbreviations
- ACSM:
-
American College of Sports Medicine
- BFR:
-
Blood flow restriction
- ES:
-
Effect size
- HHb:
-
Deoxyhemoglobin
- NIRS:
-
Near-infrared spectroscopy
- O2Hb:
-
Oxyhemoglobin
- RER:
-
Respiratory exchange ratio
- RPE:
-
Rate of perceived exertion
- RST:
-
Repeated sprint ability test to exhaustion
- S dec :
-
Percent decrement in RST
- S best :
-
Highest mean power of either of the first two sprints in RST
- SpO2 :
-
Pulse oxygen saturation
- tHb:
-
Total hemoglobin
- TSI:
-
Tissue saturation index
- V̇E:
-
Minute ventilation
- V̇O2 :
-
Maximal oxygen uptake
- ∆:
-
Delta change over time
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The authors would like to thank all participants for their efforts, patience, and cooperation with this study.
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SJW, FB, and GPM conceived and designed research. SJW conducted experiments. SJW and FB analyzed data. SJW, FB, and GPM wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Communicated by I. Mark Olfert.
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Willis, S.J., Borrani, F. & Millet, G.P. Leg- vs arm-cycling repeated sprints with blood flow restriction and systemic hypoxia. Eur J Appl Physiol 119, 1819–1828 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04171-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04171-0