Prior Knowledge of Trial Number Influences the Incidence of Plateau at VO2max.

unlabelledThe purpose of this study was to assess the VO2max plateau response at VO2max during a series of pre-determined trials.

methodsTen male well-trained athletes (age, 23.0 ± 3.2; height, 183.3 ± 5.5 cm; mass 77.5 ± 11.1 Kg; VO2max 66.5 ± 5.0 ml(.)kg(-1,)min(-1)), but who were VO2max testing naïve and with prior-knowledge of trial number completed four incremental tests to volitional exhaustion, separated by ~72-h for the determination of VO2max and gas exchange threshold. Throughout all trials VO2max was recorded on a breath-by-breath basis using a pre-calibrated metabolic cart, using a plateau criterion of Δ VO2 ≤1.5 ml(.)kg(-1.)min(-1) over the final 2 consecutive 30 s sampling periods. A significant difference was observed between trial-1 and trial-4 for plateau incidence (p = 0.0285) rising from 20% in trial-1 to a 70% response rate in trial-4. Furthermore a significant difference was observed for VO2dif (difference between criterion value and Δ VO2) in trial-1, 1.02 ± 1.69 ml(.)kg(-1.)min(-1) (p = 0.038), with non-significant differences observed for all other trials, despite a non-significant difference for VO2max across all trials (p > 0.05). Finally, a significant difference was observed for effort perception (RPE) at volitional exhaustion between trial-1 (17.7 ± 1.3) and trial-4 (19.0 ± 1.4) (p = 0.0052). These data indicate that prior-knowledge of trial number can influence the manifestation of the VO2 plateau in a group of well-trained male athletes, thereby suggesting that a form of effort control is established in order to preserve the finite anaerobic capacity. Key pointsIn well-trained athletes the incidence of plateau at VO2max increases in conjunction with an increase in trial number and the associated sensations of pain and fatigue.By informing the participant of the number of trials to be completed a closed-loop condition is developed whereby effort in all trials is compared to a perceptually developed template.Closed-loop condition leads to a sparing of the finite anaerobic capacity during incremental tests when the number of trials to be completed is known.