title: Cardiorespiratory variables during a continuous ramp exercise protocol in normal young adults.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether the cardiorespiratory variables measured during an exercise test with a continuously increasing workload (ramp) protocol are reproducible and to compare them to the values obtained with a step-wise incremental (James) protocol. Twenty normal adolescents and young adults performed two exercise tests on a cycle-ergometer, one with each protocol, and twelve of these subjects additionally performed a second identical ramp test. The results show that the cardiorespiratory variables measured during exercise with ramp protocol are reproducible and that peak values are not different from those obtained with step-wise incremental exercise protocol, except for a higher peak power. At intermediate equivalent workloads, there were significant correlations between cardiorespiratory variables measured in steady-state conditions with the incremental protocol and those obtained in non-steady-state conditions with the ramp protocol.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Matthys
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pannier
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Taeymans
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Verhaaren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012119:Respiration / Q000502:physiology*; D013599:Systole / Q000502:physiology