Ischemic preconditioning has no effect on maximal arm cycling exercise in women

Purpose We investigated the effect of ischemic preconditioning (IPC) on performance of a 3 min maximal effort arm ergometer test in young women. Methods Twenty healthy women (23.1 (SD 3.3) years) performed a 3 min maximal effort arm cycling exercise, preceded by IPC on both arms or SHAM in a counterbalanced randomized crossover design. Both blood flow (via high resolution ultrasound; n = 17) and muscle oxygenation/deoxygenation (via near infrared spectroscopy; n = 5) were measured throughout the IPC/SHAM. Performance and perceptual/physiological (i.e., heart rate, blood lactate, rating of perceived exertion, and triceps brachialis oxygenation) parameters were recorded during the exercise test. Results Occlusion during IPC completely blocked brachial artery blood flow, decreased oxygenated hemoglobin/myoglobin (Δ[oxy(Hb + Mb)]), and increased deoxygenated Hb/Mb (Δ[deoxy(Hb + Mb)]). There were no differences ( P > 0.797) in performance (peak, mean, and end power output) or in any perceptual/physiological variables during the 3 min all-out test between IPC/SHAM. During exercise, Δ[oxy(Hb + Mb)] initially decreased with no differences ( P ≥ 0.296) between conditions and returned towards baseline by the completion of the test while Δ[deoxy(Hb + Mb)] increased with no differences between conditions and remained elevated until completion of the test ( P ≥ 0.755). Conclusions We verified the successful application of IPC via blood flow and NIRS measures but found no effects on performance of a 3 min maximal effort arm cranking test in young women.