Reproducibility of incremental maximal cycle ergometer tests in healthy recreationally active subjects

• Published in: Clinical physiology and functional imaging 2017-03, Vol.37 (2), p.173-182
• Main Authors: Dideriksen, Kasper, Mikkelsen, Ulla Ramer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anaerobic Threshold; Bicycling; cardiopulmonary exercise test; Exercise - physiology; Exercise Test - methods; Female; fitness level; Health Status; Humans; learning effect; Male; Middle Aged; Oxygen Consumption; Physical Fitness; Predictive Value of Tests; Pulmonary Ventilation; Reproducibility of Results; Sports; Time Factors; ventilatory threshold; V‐slope method; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1475-0961; 1475-097X
• DOI: 10.1111/cpf.12283

Summary Purpose Testing of the ventilatory threshold (VT) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2peak) is relevant for the evaluation of a range of training studies, clinical trials and cross‐sectional studies. Due to a possible learning effect, a familiarization test is often performed to increase test reproducibility. However, limited research has investigated this learning effect and reproducibility of maximal exercise testing. The most appropriate ways to determine VT and VO2peak are not clear, and this study evaluated two approaches (V‐slope and a combined method) for the determination of VT and five time‐averaging intervals (60, 30, 15, 10 and 5 s) for the determination of VO2peak to compare test results and reproducibility. Methods Thirteen recreational triathletes completed three identical incremental maximal cycle ergometer tests. The initial workload was 75 and 100 watt (W) for women and men, respectively, and the workload was increased by 4 W/10 s thereafter. No familiarization test was performed. Results VO2peak increased significantly as the time‐averaging interval became shorter (e.g. 5‐s interval 48·7 versus 60‐s interval 44·8 ml O2 kg−1 min−1; overall P