EFFECTS OF TRAINING SPECIFICITY ON THE LACTATE THRESHOLD AND VO2 PEAK

We examined the effects of training specificity on the lactate threshold (LT) and V̇O2peak. Sixteen male subjects completed V̇O2peak/LT protocols on the cycle ergometer (CE) and treadmill (TM) before and after a training program. The subjects were assigned to run training (N = 5), cycle trining (N = 6), and control groups (N = 5). Subjects trained 4 day/week for 10 weeks at approximately 89% of pre-training V̇O2. Results indicated that run training increased V̇O2 at LT (V̇O2LT) within both the CE and TM protocols (17.9 to 22.5 ml/kg·min-1 for CE, 22.7 to 36.0 ml/kg·min-1 for TM, p<0.05) with the 58.5% increase in V̇O2LT for TM being greater than the 20.3% increase for CE (p<0.05). Cycle training resulted in a 38.7% increase in CE V̇O2LT (19.7 to 27.4 ml/kg·min-1, p<0.05) with no significant improvement in TM V̇O2LT (23.6 to 24.0 ml/kg·min-1). Similar increases in V̇O2peak were observed for CE and TM protocols for both cycle and run training groups (V̇O2peak increased by 11.9 to 20.7% in both CE and TM regardless of training mode). No changes were observed in the control group for any variable. The present data suggest that increases in LT resulting from training may be specific to the mode of exercise.