Aerobic high intensity one and two legs interval cycling in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the sum of the parts is greater than the whole

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether individual leg cycling could produce higher whole body peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) than two legs cycling during aerobic high intensity interval training in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Nineteen patients trained in 24 supervised cycling sessions either by one leg training (OLT) (n = 12) or by two legs training (TLT) (n = 7) at 4 x 4 min intervals at 85-95% of peak heart rate. Whole body VO2peak and peak work rate increased significantly by 12 and 23% in the OLT, and by 6 and 12% in the TLT from pre- to post-training, respectively, and were significantly greater in the OLT than the TLT (P < 0.05). The present study demonstrates that one leg aerobic high intensity interval cycling is superior to two legs in increasing whole body VO2peak, indicating a muscle rather than a cardiovascular limitation to VO2peak in these COPD patients.