2005 Volume 50 Issue 1 Pages 27-35
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between excess CO_2 output and short-duration intensive exercise performance with different methods for measuring excess CO_2 output. Ten university competitive sprinters performed incremental exercise (I.Ex.) and short-duration (10-s, 20-s, 30-s, and 40-s) intensive exercise (S.I.Ex.) on a cycle ergometer. In I.Ex., excess CO_2 output (CO_2 excess@I.Ex.) was calculated by subtracting the predicted VCO_2 from the measured VCO_2 after the ventilatory threshold. In S.I.Ex., excess CO_2 output (CO_2 excess@S.I.Ex.) was calculated by subtracting VO_2 from VCO_2 during and after exercise. Mean power was measured as an index of S.I.Ex. performance. CO_2 excess@I.Ex. was not significantly correlated with mean power. However, CO_2 excess@S.I.Ex. was significantly correlated with mean power in 20-s, 30-s and 40-s maximal cycle pedaling (20-s r=0.652, P<0.05 ; 30-s r=0.708, P<0.05 ; 40-s r=0.759, P<0.01). These results suggest that excess CO_2 output (CO_2 excess@S.I.Ex.) during and after short-duration intensive exercise could be an important factor in determining short-duration intensive exercise performance.