Effect of voluntary hypocapnic hyperventilation or moderate hypoxia on metabolic and heart rate responses during high-intensity intermittent exercise

To investigate the effect of voluntary hypocapnic hyperventilation or moderate hypoxia on metabolic and heart rate responses during high-intensity intermittent exercise.

Ten males performed three 30-s bouts of high-intensity cycling [Ex1 and Ex2: constant-workload at 80% of the power output in the Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT), Ex3: WAnT] interspaced with 4-min recovery periods under normoxic (Control), hypocapnic or hypoxic (2500 m) conditions. Hypocapnia was developed through voluntary hyperventilation for 20 min prior to Ex1 and during each recovery period.

End-tidal CO₂ pressure was lower before each exercise in the hypocapnia than control trials. Oxygen uptake (\(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{ 2}\)) was lower in the hypocapnia than control trials (822 ± 235 vs. 1645 ± 245 mL min⁻¹; mean ± SD) during Ex1, but not Ex2 or Ex3, without a between-trial difference in the power output during the exercises. Heart rates (HRs) during Ex1 (127 ± 8 vs. 142 ± 10 beats min⁻¹) and subsequent post-exercise recovery periods were lower in the hypocapnia than control trials, without differences during or after Ex2, except at 4 min into the second recovery period. \(\dot{V}{\text{O}}_{ 2}\) did not differ between the control and hypoxia trials throughout.

These results suggest that during three 30-s bouts of high-intensity intermittent cycling, (1) hypocapnia reduces the aerobic metabolic rate with a compensatory increase in the anaerobic metabolic rate during the first but not subsequent exercises; (2) HRs during the exercise and post-exercise recovery periods are lowered by hypocapnia, but this effect is diminished with repeated exercise bouts, and (3) moderate hypoxia (2500 m) does not affect the metabolic response during exercise.