Oxygen Uptake during Aerobic Cycling Exercise Simultaneously Combined with Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation of Antagonists

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate oxygen uptake 2 (VO )  during aerobic exercise with a Hybrid Training System (HTS) at a moderate intensity. Recently it is said that the combined application of electrical stimulation (ES) and Volitional Contractions (VC) is effective. A Hybrid Training System (HTS) has been developed as a resistance exercise method combining ES with VC, and using electrically stimulated eccentric antagonist muscle contractions as a resistance to voluntary agonist muscle contractions. The benefits of combining aerobic exercise and resistance exercise have also been reported. Therefore, we devised an exercise method that combines the resistance exercise of HTS with aerobic cycling exercise. However, the influence of HTS on aerobic exercise has not been confirmed. Outcome measurements of expired gas were compared during conventional ergometer exercise with and without HTS. 11 healthy young men exercised on a cycle ergometer starting at 20 Watts and increasing by 20 Watts every 3 minutes to 100 Watts, with volitional contractions alone (VER) and with HTS (HER). During each VER and HER test, 2 VO  , carbon dioxide output 2 (VCO )  , expired ventilation (VE) and heart rate (HR) was measured. HR, 22 VO ,VCO  and VE  showed a linear relation with workload during both VER and HER. 2 VO  during HER was significantly higher than during VER at an average of about 21.1% (p<0.001). HER at moderate intensity seems to result in a linear relationship between 2 VO  and the work rate in the same way as conventional aerobic exercise. Furthermore HER resulted in stronger exercise intensity than VER with the same workload. HTS may be a novel exercise technique that could combine resistance exercise with aerobic exercise.