The Effects of High-Intensity Interval Exercise on Skeletal Muscle and Cerebral Oxygenation during Cycling and Isokinetic Concentric and Eccentric Exercise.

Panagiotis A. Perentis,Nikos V. Margaritelis,Panayiotis Koulouvaris,Evgenia D. Cherouveim,Panagiotis N. Chatzinikolaou,Nickos D. Geladas,Michalis G. Nikolaidis,Vassiliki J. Malliou,Charilaos Tsolakis,Vassilis Paschalis

doi:10.3390/jfmk6030062

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to study the effects of cycling and pure concentric and pure eccentric high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) on skeletal muscle (i.e., vastus lateralis) and cerebral oxygenation. Twelve healthy males (n = 12, age 26 ± 1 yr, body mass 78 ± 2 kg, height 176 ± 2 cm, body fat 17 ± 1% of body mass) performed, in a random order, cycling exercise and isokinetic concentric and eccentric exercise. The isokinetic exercises were performed on each randomly selected leg. The muscle and the cerebral oxygenation were assessed by measuring oxyhemoglobin, deoxyhemoglobin, total hemoglobin, and tissue saturation index. During the cycling exercise, participants performed seven sets of seven seconds maximal intensity using a load equal to 7.5% of their body mass while, during isokinetic concentric and eccentric exercise, they were performed seven sets of five maximal muscle contractions. In all conditions, a 15 s rest was adopted between sets. The cycling HIIE caused greater fatigue (i.e., greater decline in fatigue index) compared to pure concentric and pure eccentric isokinetic exercise. Muscle oxygenation was significantly reduced during HIIE in the three exercise modes, with no difference between them. Cerebral oxygenation was affected only marginally during cycling exercise, while no difference was observed between conditions. It is concluded that a greater volume of either concentric or eccentric isokinetic maximal intensity exercise is needed to cause exhaustion which, in turn, may cause greater alterations in skeletal muscle and cerebral oxygenation.

Highlights

The magnitude of the fatigue index reduction was greater in cycling compared to concentric exercise between the third and the seventh bout while, compared to eccentric exercise, the difference was greater between the second and the seventh bout
The magnitude of fatigue index between the two isokinetic modes was greater in concentric compared to eccentric exercise
We investigated whether skeletal muscle and cerebral oxygenation would be affected differently during high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) of different muscle contraction modalities, such as cycling, pure concentric, and pure eccentric exercise

Summary

Introduction

High-intensity interval training has been used both in healthy nonathlete individuals to improve their cardiorespiratory fitness and health status [7,8,9,10,11,12]. High-intensity interval training can be performed using a wide range of exercise activities such as cycling, running, rowing, swimming, and resistance training [17]. In these activities, muscles work in a continuous shortening and a lengthening cycle, i.e., concentric and eccentric muscle contraction, respectively [18]. High-intensity interval training was performed during pure concentric (muscle shortening) and pure eccentric (muscle stretching) muscle contractions using isokinetic dynamometers [19,20,21]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion