Ischaemic preconditioning improves upper-body endurance performance without altering ⩒O₂ kinetics

Purpose:

Whilst pre-exercise ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) can improve lower-body exercise performance, its impact on upper-limb performance has received little attention. This study examines the influence of IPC on upper-body exercise performance and oxygen uptake (⩒O2) kinetics.

Methods:

Eleven recreationally-active males (24 ± 2 years) completed an arm-crank graded exercise test to exhaustion to determine the power outputs at the ventilatory thresholds (VT1 and VT2) and ⩒O2peak (40.0 ± 7.4 ml·kg-1·min-1). Four main trials were conducted, two following IPC (4 × 5-min, 220 mmHg contralateral upper-limb occlusion), the other two following SHAM (4 × 5-min, 20 mmHg). The first two trials consisted of a 15-minute constant work rate and the last two time-to-exhaustion (TTE) arm-crank tests at the power equivalents of 95% VT1 (LOW) and VT2 (HIGH), respectively. Pulmonary ⩒O2 kinetics, heart rate, blood-lactate concentration, and rating of perceived exertion were recorded throughout exercise.

Results:

TTE during HIGH was longer following IPC than SHAM (459 ± 115 vs 395 ± 102 s, p = 0.004). Mean response time and change in ⩒O2 between 2-min and end exercise (Δ⩒O2) were not different between IPC and SHAM for arm-cranking at both LOW (80.3 ± 19.0 vs 90.3 ± 23.5 s [p = 0.06], 457 ± 184 vs 443 ± 245 ml [p = 0.83]) and HIGH (96.6 ± 31.2 vs 92.1 ± 24.4 s [p = 0.65], 617 ± 321 vs 649 ± 230 ml [p = 0.74]). Heart rate, blood-lactate concentration, and rating of perceived exertion did not differ between conditions (all p≥0.05).

Conclusion

TTE was longer following IPC during upper-body exercise despite unchanged ⩒O2 kinetics.