Maximal oxygen uptake during exercise with various combinations of arm and leg work

Abstract

Oxygen uptake (VO2) was determined in 10 males during the following types of maximal exercise (work time: about 5 min): uphill running, bicycling, arm work (cranking), and combined arm work and bicycling (A + L). The A + L exercise was performed in four different ways, the arms doing 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% of the same total rate of work; and also with the maximal bicycle work load plus either maximal or submaximal arm work. VO2 was the same in running as in all types of A + L exercise, except when the arm work load was 10% and 40% of the total rate of work, where VO2 was 2.5% (P less than 0.05) and 9.4% (P less than 0.001) lower, respectively. Bicycle VO2 was lower than VO2 in running but equal to A + L VO2 when arm work intensity was 40% of the total rate of work. It is concluded that VO2 during maximal exercise a) to a certain extent depends on the exercising muscle mass, b) is lower than the oxygen-consuming potential of the muscles involved in A + L exercise, and c) in A + L exercise is influenced by the ratio of arm work to total rate of work and the subject's fitness for arm work and bicycling.

The effects of an arm ergometer training programme on wheelchair subjects

“…These dif ferences may have been related to the differences in classification of the subjects, or to the many inherent problems met in training paraplegic subjects such as inadequate training facilities, transportation to training sites, chair sores and ulcers, inadequate stabilisation in the chair and subject motivation (McDonell et al 1981). The peak lactic acid concentrations were lower than values reported in the literature for arm cranking by non-handicapped subjects (Hjeltnes 1977;Bergh et al 1976). These differences were likely due to the differences in testing protocol, subject populations of the level of training the subjects attained due to a probable lack of adherence (75% of training regimen as estimated from the subjects' log sheets) to the programme (Glaser et al 1980;McDonell et al 1981).…”

Heart rate and oxygen demand of powered exoskeleton-assisted walking in persons with paraplegia

“…A limitation of this study was that the individual participant's maximal VO 2 was not known due to the inability to perform a maximal lower-limb exercise test because of paraplegia. Maximal values of VO 2 during upper-limb values have been reported to be approximately 70 percent lower than those performed with the lower limbs [51][52][53]. Therefore, predicted values from both lower and upper limbs were used in our model.…”

Physical capacity in wheelchair-dependent persons with a spinal cord injury: a critical review of the literature

“…18,31,36,67 ACE in sedentary able-bodied persons is suggested to induce an oxygen uptake of 70% of the oxygen uptake that can be reached during a treadmill running test. 68 Assuming that the 70% ratio applies to persons with a paraplegia, the mean of 1.51 l/min corresponds to 2.16 l/min. This is comparatively low, especially because daily use of a wheelchair may induce a training effect in persons with a paraplegia, and therefore, they may even be compared to an able-bodied population practiced in arm-exercise.…”