IMPACT OF TANDEM RESISTANCE AND ENDURANCE EXERCISE ON SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE 354

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if prior endurance exercise (EE, cycling) or resistance exercise (RE) affected an immediately subsequent bout of the alternative exercise. Subjects (Ss) were 18 college-aged males who performed either upper body (UB) RE or lower body (LB) RE and, on separate days, completed a 30 min bout of cycling either before or after the RE. Ss were randomly assigned to UBRE or LBRE protocols which each consisted of three sets of five exercises. The order of EE and RE was balanced across Ss and the two workouts were performed with no more than 6 min between the completion of one and the start of the next. ANOVA revealed that cycling power output diminished significantly (p <.05, 7.1%) when preceded by either UB or LB RE. Power output during LBRE (p <.05, 19.2%) but not UBRE was less after cycling. Blood lactate was always greatest following RE, however, neither lactate nor exercise heart rate were notably impacted by the order of exercise. It appears a mechanism of general fatigue governs the negative impact of prior RE on subsequent EE, however, a local fatigue factor apparently accounts for diminished performance after a bout of EE. It should be noted that the impact of prior RE on EE was rather smaller (i.e., only a 7% decline) albeit consistently evident. In conclusion, tandem exercise can be performed with no apparent adverse effects if UBRE follows EE involving LB musculature.