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Neuromuscular and metabolic comparisons between ramp and step incremental cycle ergometer tests
Author(s) -
Zuniga Jorge M.,
Housh Terry J.,
Camic Clayton L.,
Bergstrom Haley C.,
Traylor Daniel A.,
Schmidt Richard J.,
Johnson Glen O.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/mus.23606
Subject(s) - cycle ergometer , incremental exercise , work (physics) , heart rate , bicycle ergometer , mathematics , analysis of variance , cardiology , medicine , work rate , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , statistics , blood pressure , physics , thermodynamics
We compared peak and submaximal mean values for neuromuscular and metabolic parameters between ramp (15 W·min −1 ) and step (30 W increments every 2 min) incremental cycle ergometer tests. Methods Thirteen healthy adults (7 men and 6 women; mean ± SD age = 23.4 ± 3.3 years) performed randomly ordered ramp or step incremental tests. Two‐way repeated measures analyses of variance were used to analyze the data. Results The ramp incremental test resulted in lower mean EMG amplitude, O 2 , and HR values at the common power outputs, with no differences for MMG amplitude values. Conclusions It is possible that the cumulative effect of producing an increased amount of work during the step (total work = 75.83 kJ) vs. ramp (total work = 65.60 kJ) incremental cycle ergometer tests at the common power outputs may have contributed to the greater fatigue‐induced increase in muscle recruitment and/or firing rate, oxygen consumption, and heart rate. Muscle Nerve , 2013