Edinburgh Napier University

  The aim of this study was to determine the influence of type of warm-up on metabolism and performance during high-intensity exercise. Eight males performed 30 s of intense exercise at 120% of their maximal power output followed, 1 min later, by a performance cycle to exhaustion, again at 120% of maximal power output. Exercise was preceded by active, passive or no warm-up (control). Muscle temperature, immediately before exercise, was significantly elevated after active and passive warm-ups compared to the control condition (36.9 ±0.18°C, 36.8 ±0.18°C and 33.6 ±0.25°C respectively; mean ± sx ) ( P < 0.05). Total oxygen consumption during the 30 s exercise bout was significantly greater in the active and passive warm-up trials than in the control trial (1017 ±22, 943 ±53 and 838 ±45 ml O 2 respectively). Active warm-up resulted in a blunted blood lactate response during high-intensity exercise compared to the passive and control trials (change = 5.53 ±0.52, 8.09 ±0.57 and 7.90 ±0.38 mmol· l -1 respectively) ( P < 0.05). There was no difference in exercise time to exhaustion between the active, passive and control trials (43.9 ±4.1, 48.3 ±2.7 and 46.9 ±6.2 s respectively) ( P = 0.69). These results indicate that, although the mechanism by which muscle temperature is elevated influences certain metabolic responses during subsequent high-intensity exercise, cycling performance is not significantly affected.