Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to relate the training-induced alterations in
lactate kinetics parameters to the concomitant changes in time to exhaustion (Tlim ) at a work rate corresponding to maximal oxygen uptake (Papeak ). Eight subjects performed before and after training i) an incremental exercise up
to exhaustion to determine Papeak , ii) a 5-min 90 % Papeak exercise followed by a 90-min passive recovery to determine an individual blood lactate
recovery curve fitted to the bi-exponential time function: La(t) = La(0) + A1 (1 - e-γ1 · t ) + A2 (1 - e-γ2 · t ), and iii) a time to exhaustion at Papeak to determine Tlim . A biopsy of the vastus lateralis muscle was made before and after training. The
training programme consisted in pedalling on a cycle ergometer 2 h a day, 6 days a
week, for 4 weeks. Training-induced increases (p < 0.05) in Papeak , muscle capillary density, citrate synthase activity, γ2 that denotes the lactate removal ability (from 0.0547 ± 0.0038 to 0.0822 ± 0.0071
min-1 ) and Tlim (from 299 ± 23 to 486 ± 63 s), decreases (p < 0.05) in activities of lactate dehydrogenase
(LDH) and muscle type of LDH, the phosphofructokinase/citrate synthase activities
ratio and the estimated net amount of lactate released (NALR) during exercise recovery
(from 66.5 ± 8.6 to 47.2 ± 11.1 mmol) were also observed. The improvement of Tlim with training was related to the increase in γ2 (r = 0.74, p = 0.0367) and to the decrease in NALR (r = 0.77, p = 0.0250). These
results suggest that the post-training greater ability to remove lactate from the
organism and reduced muscle lactate accumulation during exercise account for the concomitant
improvement of the time to exhaustion during high-intensity exercise performed at
the same relative work rate.
Key words
Exchanges - release - removal - performance
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L. Messonnier
Laboratory of Modelling Physical Activities, Department STAPS, University of Savoie
Campus universitaire
73376 Le Bourget du Lac Cedex
France
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