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Effect of Hypoxia on the Oxygen Uptake Response to an Exhaustive Severe Intensity Run

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Black, Matthew I (2011) Effect of Hypoxia on the Oxygen Uptake Response to an Exhaustive Severe Intensity Run. Masters thesis, University of Gloucestershire.

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Abstract

It has been shown that highly aerobically trained individuals are unable to achieve maximal oxygen uptake (O2 max) during exhaustive running lasting ~2 min despite sufficient time for the response (Draper and Wood, 2005). However, hypoxia offers the opportunity to study the O2 response to an exhaustive run relative to a reduced O2 max. The purpose of the current study was to explore whether there is a difference in the percentage of O2 max attained (during a 2 minute exhaustive run) in normoxia and hypoxia. Fourteen trained middle-distance runners (mean ± SD; age 21.4 ± 3.4 y, height 1.76 ± 0.05 m, mass 66.0 ± 7.0 kg, O2 max 67.0 ± 5.2 ml.kg-1.min-1) volunteered for this study. Participants completed exhaustive treadmill ramp tests and square-wave tests (lasting 2 minutes), in normoxia and hypoxia (FiO2 0.13). Oxygen uptake was determined on a breath-by-breath basis throughout each test. The O2 data (excluding the first 15s) from the square-wave tests were modelled using a mono-exponential function. Repeated measures ANOVA (condition x test) was used to investigate the differences in O2 peak and post-hoc related samples t-tests for each condition were performed to explore a significant interaction. There was a significant interaction effect for O2 peak (P < 0.001). Post hoc tests revealed that the O2 peak achieved during the square-wave test was lower than the ramp test in normoxia (P < 0.001) but not in hypoxia (P = 0.49). The mean ± SD percentage of the ramp O2 peak achieved was; 86 ±0.06 vs. 102 ± 0.08%, for normoxia and hypoxia respectively. The phase II time constant was different between conditions (P = 0.029) demonstrating a slower oxygen uptake response to exercise in hypoxia (mean ± SD; 12.7 ± 2.8 vs. 10.4 ± 2.6 seconds, for hypoxia and normoxia respectively). The findings of the current study support the findings of Draper and Wood (2005) that suitably trained individuals do not achieve maximal oxygen uptake in running of this intensity. However, the present study has demonstrated that when maximal oxygen uptake is reduced through hypoxia it may then be achieved.

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Thesis (Masters)

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