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Squeeze in that effort: Implementing cycling with blood flow restriction in endurance cyclists
Doctoral Thesis   Open access

Squeeze in that effort: Implementing cycling with blood flow restriction in endurance cyclists

Nathan D Smith
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Murdoch University
2022
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Abstract

Cyclists--Physiological aspects Blood flow Maximal oxygen uptake
Cycling with blood flow restriction (BFR) involves applying a restrictive cuff to the top of the thighs during exercise. Using this technique during interval training has improved maximal oxygen consumption and power output at the onset of blood lactate accumulation (two physiological determinants of endurance performance) in recreationally active individuals. Emerging research incorporating BFR interval training of elite athletes has also demonstrated improvements in maximal oxygen uptake. Such outcomes indicate a potential benefit of using BFR cycling with endurance cyclists. Applying BFR increases the heart rate associated with a given workload, so that relative exercise intensities are not directly comparable with and without BFR. As such, it will be difficult for trained cyclists to target specific exercise intensity domains during BFR cycling using commonly used methods of exercise prescription and monitoring. Additionally, local hypoxia and metabolite accumulation (key characteristics of BFR) likely cause greater neuromuscular fatigue compared to performing the unrestricted equivalent. Several questions need to be addressed before the efficacy of aerobic BFR cycling training can be examined in trained cyclists. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to investigate how aerobic BFR cycling could be suitably prescribed to and monitored by trained endurance cyclists…

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