Effects of high-intensity intermittent cross-training on maximal oxygen uptake

Abstract

We investigated the effects of high-intensity intermittent cross-training (HIICT) on maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O₂max). The HIICT consisted of alternating intermittent 20-s treadmill running (1^st, 3^rd, 5^th, and 7^th bouts) and 20-s bicycle exercise (2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th bouts) with a 10-s rest period. Each intensity for running and bicycling of the HIICT corresponded to an oxygen demand of ∼160% and ∼170% of the V˙O₂max, respectively. Fifteen healthy young males (aged [24 ± 1] yrs) were randomly assigned to training (TG, n = 8) and non-training control (CG, n = 7) groups. The TG completed this HIICT daily 4 days/week for 6 weeks. Significant group × time interactions were observed for both the running and bicycling V˙O₂max (p < 0.001 each). After the training, the V˙O₂max for both running ([57.4 ± 4.8] mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) and bicycling ([50.6 ± 3.7] mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) in the TG were significantly higher than those for running ([50.1 ± 3.1] mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) and bicycling ([43.7 ± 3.6] mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) in the CG, respectively (p < 0.01 each). Post-hoc tests revealed a significant increase in V˙O₂max for running and bicycling in the TG after the HIICT (p < 0.001 each) but no significant difference in the CG. These results demonstrated that the newly developed HIICT increases the V˙O₂max for both running and bicycling.

Keywords

Maximal oxygen uptake / Bicycling / Running / Cross-training / High intensity

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Xin Liu: Writing - review & editing, Writing - original draft, Validation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Katsunori Tsuji: Writing - review & editing, Validation, Methodology, Data curation. Yuzhong Xu: Writing - review & editing, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Conceptualization. Motoyuki Iemitsu: Writing - review & editing, Validation, Supervision, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Conceptualization. Izumi Tabata: Writing - review & editing, Validation, Supervision, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Data curation, Conceptualization.

Ethical approval statement

The protocols for the experiments and procedures were approved by the Ethics Committee of Ritsumeikan University (approval no. BKC-IRB-2011-05). After receiving a detailed explanation of the purpose, potential benefits, and risks of participating in the study, each participant gave written informed consent. The study was implemented in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper entitled “Effects of high-intensity intermittent cross-training on maximal oxygen uptake”.

Acknowledgement

We greatly appreciate the study participants. This study was supported in part by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (no. 24K14417) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences (JSPS) KAKENHI.

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