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Aerobic high intensity one and two legs interval cycling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the sum of the parts is greater than the whole

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether individual leg cycling could produce higher whole body peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) than two legs cycling during aerobic high intensity interval training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Nineteen patients trained in 24 supervised cycling sessions either by one leg training (OLT) (n = 12) or by two legs training (TLT) (n = 7) at 4 × 4 min intervals at 85–95% of peak heart rate. Whole body VO2peak and peak work rate increased significantly by 12 and 23% in the OLT, and by 6 and 12% in the TLT from pre- to post-training, respectively, and were significantly greater in the OLT than the TLT (P < 0.05). The present study demonstrates that one leg aerobic high intensity interval cycling is superior to two legs in increasing whole body VO2peak, indicating a muscle rather than a cardiovascular limitation to VO2peak in these COPD patients.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge research nurses Birgit Pedersen and Inger Lise Bjerkan at Department of Pulmonary Medicine, St Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway for the valuable assistance in patient recruitment and testing. The present experiment complies with the current ethical laws in Norway. The study was approved by the regional ethical committee and conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration.

Conflict of interest statement

None declared.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7489, Trondheim, Norway

    Siri Bjørgen, Jan Hoff, Vigdis S. Husby, Morten A. Høydal, Arnt E. Tjønna, Sigurd Steinshamn & Jan Helgerud

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, St. Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

    Jan Hoff

  3. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, St. Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

    Sigurd Steinshamn

  4. Division of Geriatrics, and Exercise and Sport Science, Department of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Russell S. Richardson

  5. Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, Salt Lake City VAMC, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Russell S. Richardson

  6. Hokksund Medical Rehabilitation Centre, Hokksund, Norway

    Jan Helgerud

Authors
  1. Siri Bjørgen
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  2. Jan Hoff
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  3. Vigdis S. Husby
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  4. Morten A. Høydal
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  5. Arnt E. Tjønna
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  6. Sigurd Steinshamn
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  7. Russell S. Richardson
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  8. Jan Helgerud
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Correspondence to Jan Helgerud.

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Bjørgen, S., Hoff, J., Husby, V.S. et al. Aerobic high intensity one and two legs interval cycling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Eur J Appl Physiol 106, 501–507 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-009-1038-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-009-1038-1

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