Effect of warm up on energy cost and energy sources of a ballet dance exercise

To evaluate the effect of warm up on energy cost and energy sources of a ballet dance exercise, 12 adolescent talented female dancers performed a ballet exercise (30 s of tours piqués en dedans on pointe) without and following a warm up. Warm up consisted in a light running followed by a period of stretching and two ballet exercises. The overall energy requirement of dance exercise (VO_2eq) was obtained by adding the amount of VO₂ during exercise above resting (aerobic source or VO_2ex) to the VO₂ up to the fast component of recovery (anaerobic alactic source or VO_2al) and to the energy equivalent of peak blood lactate accumulation (anaerobic lactic source or \({\hbox{VO}_{{\rm 2la}^{-}}}\)) of recovery. VO_2eq of exercise preceded by warm up amounted to 37 ± 3 ml kg⁻¹. VO_2al represented the higher fraction (50 ± 6%) of VO_2eq, the remaining fractions were: 39 ± 5% for VO_2ex and 11 ± 3% for \({\hbox{VO}_{{\rm 2la}^{-}}}\) . VO_2eq of exercise without warm up amounted to 38 ± 3 ml kg⁻¹. This value was made up of: 26 ± 6% by VO_2ex, 56 ± 6% by VO_2al and 18 ± 3% by \({\hbox{VO}_{{\rm 2la}^{-}}.}\) Between exercise conditions, significant differences were found in VO_2ex (P < 0.01), \({\hbox{VO}_{{\rm 2la}^{-}}}\) (P < 0.01), and VO_2al (P < 0.05). The metabolic power requirement, 1.6 times higher than subject’s \({\dot{\hbox{V}}\hbox{O}_{2\max},}\) indicates a very demanding exercise. The anaerobic alactic source was the most utilized. It can be concluded that, when dance exercise was preceded by warm up, the anaerobic sources contribution decreased whereas the aerobic energy source increased.