Wagoner CW; Hanson ED; Ryan ED; Brooks R; Wood WA; Jensen BC; Lee JT;
Coffman EM; Battaglini CL.

Applied Physiology, Nutrition, & Metabolism = Physiologie Appliquee,
Nutrition et Metabolisme. 44(11):1159-1164, 2019 Nov.
VI 1

It is not uncommon for sedentary individuals to cite leg fatigue as the
primary factor for test termination during a cardiopulmonary exercise test
(CPET) on a cycle ergometer. The purpose of this study was to examine the
effect of 2 weeks of lower body resistance training (RT) on
cardiopulmonary capacity in sedentary middle-aged females. Additionally,
the impact of RT on muscle strength was evaluated.
Following familiarization, 28 women (18 exercise group, 10 control group) completed
a maximal CPET on a cycle ergometer to determine peak oxygen uptake and
leg extensor strength assessed using isokinetic dynamometry. Participants
in the exercise group performed 2 weeks (6 sessions) of lower body RT,
which comprised leg press, leg curl, and leg extension exercises.
A 2-way repeated-measures ANOVA was used to evaluate the difference in changes of
peak oxygen uptake and peak torque (PT). Peak oxygen uptake significantly
improved from 22.2 +/- 4.5 mL.kg-1.min-1 to 24.3 +/- 4.4 mL.kg-1.min-1
(10.8%, p < 0.05) as well as PT from 83.1 +/- 25.4 Nm to 89.0 +/- 29.7 Nm
(6.1%, p < 0.05) in the exercise group with no change in the control
group.
These findings provide initial evidence that 2 weeks of lower body
RT prior to a CPET may be a helpful preconditioning strategy to achieve a
more accurate peak oxygen uptake during testing, enhancing tolerability to
a CPET by improving lower body strength.