Cardiac autonomic regulation in response to functional power threshold testing in elite cyclists.

  • Matías Castillo-Aguilar 1) Departamento de Kinesiología, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile. 2) Centro Asistencial de Docencia e Investigación (CADI-UMAG), Punta Arenas Chile.
  • Diego Mabe-Castro 1) Departamento de Kinesiología, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile. 2) Centro Asistencial de Docencia e Investigación (CADI-UMAG), Punta Arenas Chile.
  • Matías Mabe-Castro 1) Centro Asistencial de Docencia e Investigación (CADI-UMAG), Punta Arenas Chile. 2) Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.
  • Valeska Oyarzo 1) Centro Asistencial de Docencia e Investigación (CADI-UMAG), Punta Arenas Chile. 2) Fonoaudiología, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.
  • Katherine Harris King 1) Departamento de Kinesiología, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile. 2) Centro Asistencial de Docencia e Investigación (CADI-UMAG), Punta Arenas Chile.
  • Pablo Valdés-Badilla 1) Department of Physical Activity Sciences, Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile. 2) sports Coach Career, School of Education, Universidad Viña del Mar, Viña del Mar, Chile.
  • Pedro Delgado-Floody 1) Department of Physical Education, Sport and Recreation, Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. 2) Strength & Conditioning Laboratory, CTS-642 Research Group, Department Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
  • Jorge González-Puelma 1) Centro Asistencial de Docencia e Investigación (CADI-UMAG), Punta Arenas Chile. 2) Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile.
  • Cristian Andrés Núñez Espinosa Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33155/j.ramd.2023.03.002
Keywords: Frecuencia cardiaca, Rendimiento físico, Atletas, Regulación cardiovascular Heart Rate, Physical performance, Athletes, Cardiovascular regulation Frequência cardíaca, Performance física, Atletas, Regulação cardiovascular

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a functional power threshold test (FTP) on cardiac autonomic regulation indicators in high performance cyclists.

Methods: A total of 12 male elite cyclists (mean age 36.1 ± 11.2 years) were recruited. Body composition parameters were measured using bioimpedancemetry and heart rate variability (HRV) before and after the application of the FTP assessment.

Results: We observed that a greater sympathetic nervous system (SNS) index and Stress index on baseline were correlated with a smaller decrease in the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity in response to the FTP test (rho = 0.69, p = 0.013). Concerning morphological parameters, the skeletal muscle index (SMI) was the only one that was inversely correlated with ∆PNS (rho = -0.69, p = 0.02) whereas the muscle-bone index (MBI) displayed a positive correlation with ∆SNS (rho = 0.82, p = 0.001). In fully adjusted models we found that waist-to-hip ratio (beta = 7.90, CI95%[4.16, 11.63], t(8) = 4.88, p = 0.001) and SMI significantly influenced ∆PNS (beta = -1.38, CI95%[-1.84, -0.92], t(8) = -6.94, p < 0.001), whereas MBI (beta = 10.26, CI95%[8.10, 12.42], t(8) = 10.96, p < 0.001) and the interaction between the latter and Power achieved during FTP influenced ∆SNS (beta = -0.05, CI95%[-0.09, -4.99e-03], t(8) = -2.56, p = 0.033).

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the SMI had a negative effect on the ∆PNS, while the MBI was positively correlated with the ∆SNS in cyclists. These findings suggest that a higher SMI and MBI could have a detrimental impact on the cardiac autonomic response to maximal aerobic exercise in high-performance cyclists, such as FTP.

Published
2023-03-28
Issue
Vol. 16 No. 1-2 (2023): August 2023
Section
Originals
Page/s
8-14
DOI
https://doi.org/10.33155/j.ramd.2023.03.002