TY - JOUR
T1 - Trunk and upper body fatigue adversely affect running economy
T2 - A three-armed randomized controlled crossover pilot trial
AU - Drum, Scott N.
AU - Rappelt, Ludwig
AU - Donath, Lars
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2019/8
Y1 - 2019/8
N2 - Trunk muscle fatigue and its negative relationship with running economy (RE) is frequently recognized by practitioners but lacks evidence-based support. Thus, this three-armed randomized controlled crossover pilot trial (RCT) examined the effects of trunk and upper body fatigue protocols on RE, trunk muscle isometric rate of force production, and lactate response in runners. Seven well-trained runners (2 males and 5 females) randomly underwent control (CON), trunk fatigue (TRK), and upper body fatigue (UPR) protocols on three different lab visits. Both workload-matched fatigue protocols—consisting of 24 min of a circuit weight routine—elicited comparable rates of perceived exertion, heart rate responses, and lactate accumulations. As expected, core muscle strength assessed with isometric testing immediately before and after both fatigue protocols, decreased notably. RE (VO2 /kg bodyweight averaged for 1 min) was determined during a 15 min individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) run at 4, 9 and 14 min. The IAT (13.9 to 15.8 km/h) was determined on lab visit one using an incremental treadmill running protocol to volitional exhaustion. RE differed, although not significantly, between CON and both fatigue protocols by 0.75 (4th min) to 1.5 ml/min/kg (9th and 14th min) bodyweight (Time × Mode Interaction: p = 0.2, np2 = 0.40) with a moderate to large effect size. Despite no signficance, the largest RE differences were observed between TRK and CON (and underscored by the moderate to large effect size). This preliminary pilot RCT revealed that both UPR and TRK conditions might adversely impact running economy at a high intensity, steady state running pace. Future studies should elucidate if these findings are replicable in large scale trials and, in turn, whether periodized core training can beneficially preserve RE.
AB - Trunk muscle fatigue and its negative relationship with running economy (RE) is frequently recognized by practitioners but lacks evidence-based support. Thus, this three-armed randomized controlled crossover pilot trial (RCT) examined the effects of trunk and upper body fatigue protocols on RE, trunk muscle isometric rate of force production, and lactate response in runners. Seven well-trained runners (2 males and 5 females) randomly underwent control (CON), trunk fatigue (TRK), and upper body fatigue (UPR) protocols on three different lab visits. Both workload-matched fatigue protocols—consisting of 24 min of a circuit weight routine—elicited comparable rates of perceived exertion, heart rate responses, and lactate accumulations. As expected, core muscle strength assessed with isometric testing immediately before and after both fatigue protocols, decreased notably. RE (VO2 /kg bodyweight averaged for 1 min) was determined during a 15 min individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) run at 4, 9 and 14 min. The IAT (13.9 to 15.8 km/h) was determined on lab visit one using an incremental treadmill running protocol to volitional exhaustion. RE differed, although not significantly, between CON and both fatigue protocols by 0.75 (4th min) to 1.5 ml/min/kg (9th and 14th min) bodyweight (Time × Mode Interaction: p = 0.2, np2 = 0.40) with a moderate to large effect size. Despite no signficance, the largest RE differences were observed between TRK and CON (and underscored by the moderate to large effect size). This preliminary pilot RCT revealed that both UPR and TRK conditions might adversely impact running economy at a high intensity, steady state running pace. Future studies should elucidate if these findings are replicable in large scale trials and, in turn, whether periodized core training can beneficially preserve RE.
KW - Endurance
KW - Fatigue
KW - Lactate
KW - Oxygen uptake
KW - Running economy
KW - Trunk strength
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U2 - 10.3390/sports7080195
DO - 10.3390/sports7080195
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105285036
SN - 2075-4663
VL - 7
JO - Sports
JF - Sports
IS - 8
M1 - 195
ER -