IPC improves 5-km time trial performance in healthy male individuals. Moreover, we found that IPC is associated with an attenuated rise in blood lactate concentration at submaximal level during an incremental running test. This could indicate that IPC allows for higher work rates and thus improves time trial performance.

Daily exposure to IPC for 7 days leads to local and remote improvements in brachial artery FMD and resting skin microcirculation that remain after cessation of the intervention and beyond the late phase of protection. These findings may have clinical relevance for micro- and macrovascular improvements.

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is recognized as a potent stimulus for improving cardiorespiratory fitness (volume of oxygen consumption [VO 2 ] peak) in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the feasibility, safety, and long-term effects of HIIT in this population are unclear. OBJECTIVE To compare HIIT with moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) for feasibility, safety, adherence, and efficacy of improving VO 2 peak in patients with CAD. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In this single-center randomized clinical trial, participants underwent 4 weeks of supervised training in a private hospital cardiac rehabilitation program, with subsequent home-based training and follow-up over 12 months.A total of 96 participants with angiographically proven CAD aged 18 to 80 years were enrolled, and 93 participants were medically cleared for participation following a cardiopulmonary exercise test.

Strenuous exercise is associated with an immediate decrease in endothelial function. Repeated bouts of ischemia followed by reperfusion, known as remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC), is able to protect the endothelium against ischemia-induced injury beyond the ischemic area. We examined the hypothesis that RIPC prevents the decrease in endothelial function observed after strenuous exercise in healthy men. In a randomized, crossover study, 13 healthy men performed running exercise preceded by RIPC of the lower limbs (4 × 5-min 220-mmHg bilateral occlusion) or a sham intervention (sham; 4 × 5-min 20-mmHg bilateral occlusion). Participants performed a graded maximal treadmill running test, followed by a 5-km time trial (TT). Brachial artery endothelial function was examined before and after RIPC or sham, as well as after the 5-km TT. We measured flow-mediated dilation (FMD), an index of endothelium-dependent function, using high-resolution echo-Doppler. We also calculated the shear rate area-under-the-curve (from cuff deflation to peak dilatation; SR(AUC)). Data are described as mean and 95% confidence intervals. FMD changed by <0.6% immediately after both ischemic preconditioning (IPC) and sham interventions (P > 0.30). In the sham trial, FMD changed from 5.1 (4.4-5.9) to 3.7% (2.6-4.8) following the 5-km TT (P = 0.02). In the RIPC trial, FMD changed negligibly from 5.4 (4.4-6.4) post-IPC and 5.7% (4.6-6.8) post 5-km TT (P = 0.60). Baseline diameter, SR(AUC), and time-to-peak diameter were all increased following the 5-km TT (P < 0.05), but these changes did not influence the IPC-mediated maintenance of FMD. In conclusion, these data indicate that strenuous lower-limb exercise results in an acute decrease in brachial artery FMD of ~1.4% in healthy men. However, we have shown for the first time that prior RIPC of the lower limbs maintains postexercise brachial artery endothelium-dependent function at preexercise levels.

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