A modified formula using energy system contributions to calculate pure maximal rate of lactate accumulation during a maximal sprint cycling test
Woo‐Hwi Yang, Soyoung Park, Taenam Kim, Hyung-Jin Jeon, Oliver Heine, Sebastian Gehlert
Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed at comparing previous calculating formulas of maximal lactate accumulation rate ( ν La.max ) and a modified formula of pure ν La.max (P ν La.max ) during a 15-s all-out sprint cycling test (ASCT) to analyze their relationships. Methods: Thirty male national-level track cyclists participated in this study ( n = 30) and performed a 15-s ASCT. The anaerobic power output (W peak and W mean ), oxygen uptake, and blood lactate concentrations (La − ) were measured. These parameters were used for different calculations of ν La.max and three energy contributions (phosphagen, W PCr ; glycolytic, W Gly ; and oxidative, W Oxi ). The P ν La.max calculation considered delta La − , time until W peak (t PCr−peak ), and the time contributed by the oxidative system (t Oxi ). Other ν La.max levels without t Oxi were calculated using decreasing time by 3.5% from W peak (t PCr −3.5% ) and t PCr−peak . Results: The absolute and relative W PCr were higher than W Gly and W Oxi ( p < 0.0001, respectively), and the absolute and relative W Gly were significantly higher than W Oxi ( p < 0.0001, respectively); ν La.max (t PCr −3.5% ) was significantly higher than P ν La.max and ν La.max (t PCr−peak ), while ν La.max (t PCr−peak ) was lower than P ν La.max ( p < 0.0001, respectively). P ν La.max and ν La.max (t PCr−peak ) were highly correlated ( r = 0.99; R 2 = 0.98). This correlation was higher than the relationship between P ν La.max and ν La.max (t PCr −3.5% ) ( r = 0.87; R 2 = 0.77). ν La.max (t PCr−peak ), P ν La.max , and ν La.max (t PCr −3.5% ) were found to correlate with absolute W mean and W Gly . Conclusion: P ν La.max as a modified calculation of ν La.max provides more detailed insights into the inter-individual differences in energy and glycolytic metabolism than ν La.max (t PCr−peak ) and ν La.max (t PCr −3.5% ). Because W Oxi and W PCr can differ remarkably between athletes, implementing their values in P ν La.max can establish more optimized individual profiling for elite track cyclists.