[Effect of training on treadmill performance, aerobic capacity and body reactions to acute cold exposure]

Abstract

An attempt was made to test the hypothesis that regular physical activity at the anaerobic threshold is able to stimulate an increase in the amount of body fat brown or beige, which can manifest itself in increasing lactate utilization during exercise and increase the reactivity in response to acute regional cooling. The methods used are: ramp test, regional acute cold exposure, measurement of gas exchange, lactate and glucose in the blood, heart rate, and heart rate variability, blood pressure and respiration variability at rest and during standard functional tests; infrared thermal imaging, statistical methods of results analysis. Workout 10 physically active volunteers (7 males and 3 females) on a treadmill at a speed corresponding to 75-80% of the persona VO2max for 30 minutes 3 times per week at a fixed ambient temperature 21-22°C for 6 weeks resulted in a significant (from 19 to 39%) increase in test work duration but VO2max on average changed little. The increase in power of anaerobic threshold was associated with a sharp slowdown in the accumulation of lactate in progress of ramp test. Lactate utilization rate during the recovery period, on the contrary, increased. In general, significantly increased work efficiency at a test load. Not revealed noticeable changes in the condition and response to a standard functional tests of autonomic systems, as judged by heart rate variability, blood pressure and respiration variability at rest and during orthostatic tests and imposed breathing rhythm. The functional response of the body to acute cold exposure (1 minute cooling of the feet in ice water) is not changed after a cycle of training--either in terms of metabolism (oxygen consumption, etc.), or the dynamics of the skin temperature in areas of most probable location of brown adipose tissue (BAT). These data do not confirm the previously expressed (2010) hypothesis about the function of BAT as a universal homeostatic instrument in the body. Probably, if under the influence of physical activity and hormone irisin produced by muscles the formation of the beige adipose tissue is stimulated, the one that is involved in lactate utilization, but is not involved in thermoregulatory responses.