Effect of previous exhaustive exercise on metabolism and fatigue development during intense exercise in humans

The present study examined how metabolic response and work capacity are affected by previous exhaustive exercise. Seven subjects performed an exhaustive cycle exercise (similar to 130% VO(2)-max; EX2) after warm-up (CON) and 2 min after an exhaustive bout at a very high (VH; similar to 30 s), high (HI; similar to 3 min) or low (LO; similar to 2 h) intensity. Compared with CON, performance during EX2 was reduced (P < 0.05) more in HI and LO than in VH (61 +/- 4% and 68 +/- 3% vs 35 +/- 4%). The muscle glycogen before EX2 was lower (P < 0.05) in LO than in HI and VH, but the muscle glycogen utilization rates during EX2 were not different. Muscle glycogen concentration before EX2 was related (P < 0.05) to the mean rate of muscle glycogen utilization during EX2 in HI and VH, and the mean rate of muscle lactate accumulation in LO. In HI, muscle pH before EX2 was lower (P < 0.05) compared with VH and LO, but the same in HI and VH at the end of EX2. In HI, muscle pH before and after EX2 was inversely related (P < 0.05) to the decrease in EX2 performance. Thus, muscle glycogen availability and low muscle pH do not per se control but appear to affect the rate of glycogenolysis/glycolysis and fatigue development during a repeated high-intensity exercise lasting 1/2-2 min.