Effects of Priming and Pacing Strategy on Oxygen-Uptake Kinetics and Cycling Performance

Purpose: To assess whether combining prior priming exercise with an all-out pacing strategy is more effective at improving oxygen-uptake ((V)over dotO(2)) kinetics and cycling performance than either intervention administered independently. Methods: Nine men completed target-work cycling performance trials using a self-paced or all-out pacing strategy with or without prior severe intensity (70%Delta) priming exercise. Breath-by-breath pulmonary (V)over dotO(2) and cycling power output were measured during all trials. Results: Compared with the self-paced unprimed control trial (22 +/- 5 s), the (V)over dotO(2) mean response time (MRT) was shorter ((V)over dotO(2) kinetics were faster) with all-out pacing (17 +/- 4 s) and priming (17 +/- 3 s), with the lowest (V)over dotO(2) MRT observed when all-out pacing and priming were combined (15 +/- 4 s) (P < .05). However, total O-2 consumed and end-exercise (V)over dotO(2) were only higher than the control condition in the primed trials (P < .05). Similarly, cycling performance was improved compared with control (98 +/- 11 s) in the self-paced primed (93 +/- 8 s) and all-out primed (92 +/- 8 s) trials (P < .05) but not the all-out unprimed trial (97 +/- 5 s; P >.05). Conclusions: These findings suggest that combining an all-out start with severe-intensity priming exercise additively improves (V)over dotO(2) MRT but not total O-2 consumption and cycling performance since these were improved by a similar magnitude in both primed trials relative to the self-paced unprimed control condition. Therefore, these results support the use of priming exercise as.a precompetition intervention to improve oxidative metabolism and performance during short-duration high-intensity cycling exercise, independent of the pacing strategy adopted.