Summary
Values of oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, ventilation and blood lactate concentration were determined in eight active male subjects during the minute following submaximal square-wave exercise on a treadmill under two sets of conditions. Square-wave exercise was (1) integrated in a series of intermittent incremental exercises of 4-min duration separated by 1-min rest periods; (2) isolated, of 4- and 12-min duration, and of intensity corresponding to each of the intermittent incremental periods of exercise. For square-wave exercise of the same duration (4 min) and intensity, no significant differences in the above-mentioned parameters were noted between intermittent incremental exercise and isolated exercise. Only at high work rate (>92% maximal oxygen uptake), were blood lactate levels in three subjects slightly higher after 12-min of isolated exercise than after the 4-min periods of isolated exercise. Examination of these results suggests that (1) 80–90% of the blood lactate concentration observed under our experimental conditions results from the accumulation of lactate in the blood during the period of oxygen deficit; (2) therefore the blood lactate concentration/exercise intensity relationship, for the most part, appears to represent the lactate accumulated early in the periods of intermittent incremental exercise.
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Rieu, M., Miladi, J., Ferry, A. et al. Blood lactate during submaximal exercises. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 59, 73–79 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02396583
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02396583