COMPARISON OF CARDIOPULMONARY CHANGES DURING CYCLE AND TREADMILL TESTS

Background
Our pilot study aimed to investigate cardiopulmonary differences between vita maxima incremental cycle and treadmill tests among elite youth cyclists.

Material and methods
8 elite youth cyclists (6 male, 2 female; age: 17.125±1.8 years) completed a cycle ergometer test using a road racing bike on a Tacx Smart Flux roller, followed by a vita maxima treadmill test 48 hours later. Aerobic capacity, cardiopulmonary, and metabolic parameters were measured during both tests.

Results
Based on the paired sample t-test, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the maximal load values (W) on the treadmill were significantly higher (t=3.52; p<0.05) than in the cycle test. Volume of utilized oxygen (VO2; ml/min) and volume of exhaled CO2 (VCO2; ml/min) values (t=4.76 and t=3.45; p<0.05), maximal fat oxidation (Fatmax; g/day) (t=4.34; p<0.05), maximum rate of oxygen consumption (VO2max; ml/kg/min) (t=4.9; p<0.05) and rate of oxygen consumption at lactate threshold (VO2atLT; ml/kg/min) (t=4.04; p<0.05) also showed significantly higher values than in treadmill test. Pearson’s correlation study showed significant correlation between VO2atLT, and most other parameters (VO2, ventilation (VE; BTPS l/min), load at lactate threshold (load at LT), energy expenditure (EE; g/day)).

Conclusions
The differences in results may be because of sport-specific adaptation to cycling and the characteristics of running and cycling, such as the different muscle contraction composition (concentric and eccentric) and different metabolic demands. These findings must be taken into account when testing cyclists on a treadmill, and planning their training loads based on these results.