Level of performance and stability of cardiopulmonary variables in the intensity of the ventilatory anaerobic threshold

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the behavior of different cardiopulmonary variables in exercise session with constant running speed, corresponding to the intensity of ventilatory anaerobic threshold and identifying the steady state in a different level of performance. Methods: A cross-sectional study with nine elite athletes (31 ± 5.7 years, 1.7 ± 0.05 meters and VO2max 68.6 ± 3.2 mLkg-1min-1) and nine non-athletes (32 ± 10 years, 1.8 ± 0.1 meters and V O2max 47.2± 4.4 mLkg-1min-1). Two visits to the laboratory have been conducted. Firstly, cardiopulmonary exercise testing until voluntary exhaustion took place to identify ventilatory thresholds and maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) and secondly, there was a running session for 1 hour in ventilatory anaerobic threshold speed, with continuous measurement of exhaled gases. A range of 5% (Δ5%) for VO2 and PetCO2 was used; 5.5% (Δ5.5%) for VE and 3% (Δ3%) for respiratory exchange ratio (RER) and one-way ANOVA with statistical significance of p ≤ 0.05 to identify the steady state of results. Results: A session with constant speed related to ventilatory anaerobic threshold intensity showed similarity in the steady state of ventilatory variables except for RER in the NA group (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: It was possible to identify the steady state from ventilatory variables related to ventilatory anaerobic threshold intensity that occurred independently of the physical performance level.