Sympathetic response to maximal bicycle exercise before and after leg strength training

Abstract

Plasma catecholamine concentrations at rest and in response to maximal exercise on the cycle ergometer (278 +/- 15 watts, 6 min duration) have been measured on seven young active male subjects (19 +/- 1 years old; 80 +/- 3 kg; 176 +/- 3 cm) prior to and after a eight week leg strength training program (5RM, squat and leg press exercise). Strength training resulted in a significant increase in performance on squat (103 +/- 3 to 140 +/- 5 kg) and leg press exercise (180 +/- 9 to 247 +/- 15 kg) associated with a small significant increase in lean body mass (64.5 +/- 2.2 to 66.3 +/- 2.1 kg) and no change in maximal oxygen consumption (47.5 +/- 1.3 to 46.9 +/- 1.2 ml X kg-1 X min-1). Plasma norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) concentrations (pg X mL-1) were not significantly different before and after training at rest (NE: 172 +/- 19 vs 187 +/- 30; E: 33 +/- 10 vs 76 +/- 16) or in response to maximal exercise (NE: 3976 +/- 660 vs 4163 +/- 1081; E: 1072 +/- 322 vs 1321 +/- 508). Plasma lactate concentrations during recovery were similar before and after training (147 +/- 5 vs 147 +/- 15 mg X dL-1). Under the assumption that the "central command" is reduced for a given absolute workload on the bicycle ergometer following leg strength training, these observations support the hypothesis that the sympathetic response to exercise is under the control of information from muscle chemoreceptors.