Background This study aimed to compare the acute and residual physiological responses elicited by three different priming exercise strategies, including high-intensity priming exercise (HIPE), low-intensity priming exercise (LIPE), and low-intensity priming exercise with blood flow restriction (LIPE-BFR), on oxygen uptake kinetics, muscle oxygenation, and metabolic load during severe-intensity cycling in trained anaerobic athletes. Methods Sixteen trained anaerobic athletes completed a randomized crossover protocol with three priming conditions (HIPE, LIPE, and LIPE-BFR) in a randomized order. The experimental protocol began with an incremental exercise test to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2 max), followed by five submaximal constant-load cycling trials to derive individual power–VO 2 regression equations. The three priming interventions included HIPE, LIPE, and LIPE-BFR. Key physiological parameters, including pulmonary oxygen uptake kinetics, muscle oxygen saturation (SmO 2 ), accumulated blood lactate (ABLa) concentration, accumulated oxygen uptake (AVO 2 ), and accumulated oxygen deficit (AOD), were assessed to quantify oxygen utilization and metabolic demand across sessions. Results Compared with HIPE, both LIPE and LIPE-BFR induced significantly lower amplitude (A) and longer time delay (TD), along with reduced reduced minimum SmO 2 (SmO 2 min) and steady-state SmO 2 (SmO 2 ss) during exercise ( P 0.05), except for a higher VO 2 baseline in the HIPE group ( P < 0.05). Conclusion Although the three priming strategies elicited distinct acute physiological responses, their residual effects on oxygen uptake kinetics and metabolic outcomes during subsequent severe-intensity exercise were largely comparable. Future studies should further explore alternative priming protocols and refine experimental designs to better clarify the effects of priming.
Qing et al. (Tue,) studied this question.