摘要:The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of upper-body high-intensity exercise priming on subsequent leg exercise performance. Specifically, to compare maximal 4000 m cycling performance with upper-body pre-load (MPT
high) and common warm-up (MPT
low). In this case, 15 high-level cyclists (23.3 ± 3.6 years; 181 ± 7 cm; 76.2 ± 10.0 kg;
V
˙O
2max: 65.4 ± 6.7 mL·kg
−1·min
−1) participated in the study attending three laboratory sessions, completing an incremental test and both experimental protocols. In MPT
high, warm-up was added by a 25 s high-intensity all-out arm crank effort to the traditional 20-min aerobic warm-up. Both 4000 m maximal bouts started with a 12 s all-out start. Heart rate, blood lactate concentration [La) and spirometric data were measured and analyzed. Overall MPT
high time was slower by 5.3 ± 1.2 s (
p < 0.05). [La] at the start was 5.5 ± 1.5 mmol·L
−1 higher for MPT
high (
p < 0.001) reducing anaerobic energy contribution which was higher in MPT
low during the first and third 1000 m split (
p < 0.05). Similarly, MPT
low maintained higher total average power during the entire performance (
p < 0.05,
d = 0.7). Although the MPT
high condition performed less effectively due to decreased anaerobic capacity, pre-load effect may have the potential to enhance performance at longer distances.