Abstract
Purpose
To investigate whether performing resistance exercise in hypoxia augments physiological and perceptual responses, and if altering work-rate by performing repetitions to failure compared to sub-maximally increases the magnitude of these responses.
Methods
Twenty male university students (minimum of 2 year resistance training experience) completed four sessions, two in hypoxia (fraction of inspired oxygen [FiO2] = 0.13), and two in normoxia (FiO2 = 0.21). For each condition, session one comprised three sets to failure of shoulder press and bench press (high work-rate session), while session two involved the same volume load, distributed over six sets (low work-rate session). Muscle oxygenation (triceps brachii), surface electromyographic activity (anterior deltoid, pectoralis major, and triceps brachii), heart rate (HR), and arterial blood oxygen saturation were recorded. Blood lactate concentration ([Bla−]) was recorded pre-exercise and 2 min after each exercise. Muscle thickness was measured pre- and post-exercise via ultrasound.
Results
Muscle oxygenation values during sets and inter-set rest periods were lower in hypoxia vs normoxia (p = 0.001). Hypoxia caused greater [Bla−] during the shoulder press of failure sessions (p = 0.003) and both shoulder press (p = 0.048) and bench press (p = 0.005) of non-failure sessions. Hypoxia increased HR during non-failure sessions (p < 0.001). There was no effect of hypoxia on muscular swelling, surface electromyographic activity, perceived exertion, or number of repetitions performed.
Conclusions
Hypoxia augmented metabolite accumulation, but had no impact on any other physiological or perceptual response compared to the equivalent exercise in normoxia. Furthermore, the magnitude to which hypoxia increased the measured physiological responses was not influenced by sessional work-rate.
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Abbreviations
- AOP:
-
Arterial occlusion pressure
- BFR:
-
Blood flow restriction
- [BLa−]:
-
Blood lactate concentration
- EMG:
-
Electromyography
- ESSA:
-
Exercise and Sport Science Australia
- FiO2 :
-
Fraction of inspired oxygen
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- iEMG:
-
Integrated electromyography
- NIRS:
-
Near-infrared spectroscopy
- RM:
-
Repetition max
- RPE:
-
Rating of perceived exertion
- RTH:
-
Resistance training in hypoxia
- SpO2 :
-
Arterial blood oxygen saturation
- sRPE:
-
Sessional rating of perceived exertion
- TSI:
-
Tissue saturation index
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The authors would like to thank the participants for volunteering their time to take part in the study.
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TPW, BRS, and OG conceived and designed research. TPW, AMJ, and KJM conducted experiments. TPW, BRS, OG, AMJ, and ARD analyzed data. All authors interpreted the results of experiments. TPW drafted manuscript and prepared figures/tables. All authors edited and revised manuscript. All authors approved the final version of manuscript.
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The authors have no conflicts of interest, source of funding, or financial ties to disclose and no current or past relationship with companies or manufacturers who could benefit from the results of the present study.
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Walden, T.P., Girard, O., Jonson, A.M. et al. Sessional work-rate does not affect the magnitude to which simulated hypoxia can augment acute physiological responses during resistance exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 2159–2169 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04440-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04440-3