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Cycling efficiency and time to exhaustion are reduced after acute passive stretching administration
Author(s) -
Esposito F.,
Cè E.,
Limonta E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0838.2011.01327.x
Subject(s) - cycling , medicine , administration (probate law) , emergency medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , anesthesia , geography , political science , archaeology , law
The aim of this study was to assess the effects of acute passive stretching on cycling efficiency during an exercise of heavy intensity. After maximum aerobic power (V̇O 2max ) assessment, nine active males (24 ± 5 years; stature 1.71 ± 0.09 m; body mass 69 ± 7 kg; mean ± standard deviation) performed tests at 85% of V̇O 2max (Ẇ 85 ) until exhaustion, with and without pre‐exercise stretching. During the tests, we determined the gas exchange, metabolic and cardiorespiratory parameters. With stretching, no differences in V̇O 2max occurred (3.64 ± 0.14 vs 3.66 ± 0.07 L/min for stretching and control, respectively). During Ẇ 85 , pre‐exercise stretching (i) decreased time to exhaustion ( t lim ) by 26% ( P <0.05); (ii) increased average V̇O 2 by 4% (3.24 ± 0.07 and 3.12 ± 0.07 L/min in stretching and control, respectively; P <0.05); and (iii) reduced net mechanical efficiency ( e net ) by 4% (0.185 ± 0.006 and 0.193 ± 0.006 in stretching and control, respectively; P <0.05). Although acute passive stretching did not have an effect on V̇O 2max , t lim and e net during heavy constant load exercise were significantly affected. These results are suggestive of an impairment in cycling efficiency due to changes in muscle neural activation and viscoelastic characteristics induced by stretching.