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Comparison of cardiopulmonary exercise testing performed with blood flow restriction vs. a traditional maximum test on execution speed, ventilatory thresholds and maximum oxygen uptake

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Abstract

Objective

To compare the responses of velocities, ventilatory thresholds and maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) through a maximum incremental test with blood flow restriction (Tmax-BFR) and without restriction (Tmax-TRAD) in active young people.

Methods

This is a crossover study. Eight active young men (25 ± 4 years, 173 ± 0.07 cm, 77.19 ± 7.5 kg) were submitted to cardiopulmonary exercise test performed with or without vascular occlusion and evaluated in the entire test by ergospirometry. The first and second ventilatory threshold (VT1 and VT2), VO2max and the speeds to reach the thresholds were analyzed, as well as the exhaustion time for each condition was analyzed.

Results

VT1, VT2 and VO2max are similar in both conditions. However, to reach VT2 and VO2max the speeds in the Tmax-BFR condition were significantly lower than in the Tmax-TRAD condition: 11.06 ± 1.56; 14.25 ± 1.03 km/h, p = 0.0002; 13.06 ± 2.04; 16.62 ± 1.30 km/h, p = 0.001. To reach VT1, there was a tendency to reduce the Tmax-BFR condition compared to Tmax-TRAD: 7.81 ± 0.92; 9 ± 1.36 km/h, p = 0.0645 d: 1024. Still, the exhaustion time was significantly shorter for the Tmax-BFR condition compared to Tmax-TRAD: 11:16 ± 0.10 min; 15:02 ± 0.05 min (Table 2) p = 0.007.

Conclusion

We identified reductions in velocities at ventilatory thresholds and VO2max when performed with occlusion. These data suggest the possible contribution of this resource to clinical practice, highlighting the achievement by individuals who do not tolerate high speeds on the treadmill or athletes who need to reduce speeds without decreasing exercise intensities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Fisiologia do Exercício e Bioquímica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Samuel Vargas Munhoz & Thiago Rozales Ramis

  2. Laboratório de Fisiologia do Exercício, IPA Centro Universitário Metodista, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Thiago Rozales Ramis, Leonardo Peterson dos Santos & Jerri Luiz Ribeiro

Authors
  1. Samuel Vargas Munhoz
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  2. Thiago Rozales Ramis
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  3. Leonardo Peterson dos Santos
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  4. Jerri Luiz Ribeiro
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Correspondence to Samuel Vargas Munhoz.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of the Methodist University (IPA) and registered as number 1.732.719.

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All the subjects provided written consent to participate in the study after the study procedure and methods were explained to them.

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Munhoz, S.V., Ramis, T.R., dos Santos, L.P. et al. Comparison of cardiopulmonary exercise testing performed with blood flow restriction vs. a traditional maximum test on execution speed, ventilatory thresholds and maximum oxygen uptake. Sport Sci Health 16, 685–690 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00644-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-020-00644-4

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