Respiratory and Metabolic Responses to Endurance Cycle Exercise in Pregnant and Postpartum Women

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This study was designed to determine whether endurance cycling responses in pregnancy differ from those postpartum. We studied 16 women longitudinally at ~ 32 wk pregnancy and ~ 10 wk postpartum. We measured heart rate (HR), O2 uptake (VO2), CO2 output (VCO2), minute ventilation VE and plasma concentrations of substrates and of catecholamines at rest, during maximal testing, and during ~ 35 - 40 min of cycling at ~70 - 75 % VO2 peak. Endurance exercise time and power were 37.6 ± 1.0 min and 124 ± 8 W in pregnancy, similar to values observed postpartum. HR and respiratory responses near the end of endurance exercise were also unaffected by gestation, with pregnancy values of 173 ± 3 bpm, 1.87 ± 0.07 L/min VO2, and 1.68 ± 0.07 L/min VCO2, except that VE at 70.0 ± 3.5 L/min was 14 % higher than postpartum; plasma concentrations of free fatty acids (404 ± 62 mmol/L), glucose (3.34 ± 0.17 mmol/L), and lactic acid (4.51 ± 0.50 mmol/L) were lower than postpartum by 9, 24, and 19 %, respectively; catecholamine concentrations were not different from those determined postpartum. We conclude that pregnant women are equally capable as are postpartum women to perform ~ 40 min of cycling at 70 - 75 % VO2 peak, and that the physiologic responses to endurance exercise are largely independent of gestation.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: