The Effects of Physical Fitness and Body Composition on Oxygen Consumption and Heart Rate Recovery After High-Intensity Exercise

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential relationship between excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), heart rate recovery (HRR) and their respective time constants (tvo2 and t HR) and body composition and aerobic fitness (VO2max) variables after an anaerobic effort. 14 professional cyclists (age=28.4±4.8 years, height=176.0±6.7 cm, body mass=74.4±8.1 kg, VO2max=66.8±7.6 mL·kg - 1·min - 1) were recruited. Each athlete made 3 visits to the laboratory with 24 h between each visit. During the first visit, a total and segmental body composition assessment was carried out. During the second, the athletes undertook an incremental test to determine VO2max. In the final visit, EPOC (15-min) and HRR were measured after an all-out 30 s Wingate test. The results showed that EPOC is positively associated with % body fat (r=0.64), total body fat (r=0.73), fat-free mass (r=0.61) and lower limb fat-free mass (r=0.55) and negatively associated with HRR (r= - 0.53, p<0.05 for all). HRR had a significant negative correlation with total body fat and % body fat (r= - 0.62, r= - 0.56 respectively, p<0.05 for all). These findings indicate that VO2max does not influence HRR or EPOC after high-intensity exercise. Even in short-term exercise, the major metabolic disturbance due to higher muscle mass and total muscle mass may increase EPOC. However, body fat impedes HRR and delays recovery of oxygen consumption after effort in highly trained athletes.

Relationship between post-exercise heart rate variability and skinfold thickness

“…The finding of a relationship between SF and resting HRV and HRR is in agreement with previous research (Esco et al, 2011). In addition, Campos et al (2012) showed that HRR was linked to body fat percentage, but not VO2max, which also concurs with our findings since the SF technique is commonly used to predict body fat percentage in field settings (ACSM, 2009). The most important finding from the current study extends previous research, showing a significant and independent association between SF and HRV that was measured up to 30-minutes following exercise.…”

“…Though resting HRV and the immediate vagal-induced heart rate recovery (HRR) following exercise appear to be related to maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and body composition (Aubert et al, 2003; Byrne et al, 1996; Millis et al, 2010;Molfino et al, 2009), the latter may hold an independent link to overall cardiac-autonomic control (Campos et al, 2012; Esco et al, 2011). Recently, Esco et al (2011) showed that between selected body composition parameters and VO2max, the simplistic measure of total skinfold thickness (SF) was the strongest predictor of resting HRV and HRR when analyzed via stepwise regression.…”

Obesity Modifies the Effect of Fitness on Heart Rate Indices during Exercise Stress Testing in Asymptomatic Individuals

“…Similar to our study, another study found that the peak HR, CI and HRR are attenuated in obese individuals compared to those with normal weight [11], but are higher with increasing METS [10,28]. These findings suggest that obesity is associated with autonomic dysfunction.…”

The intensity and energy expenditure of exertions, restitution speed, and rate of perceived exertion after tournament matches in Polish futsal players

“…Top futsal players are characterized by fast post-exercise recovery. A decrease in heart rate (Hr) to a certain level is one of the main elements of monitoring an organism's adaptation to physical effort [10]. According to Stupnicki et al [11], the rate of the decrease depends on aerobic power, which enables recovery after anaerobic efforts, dominant in this type of effort.…”