Abstract des Autors

This study investigated the effects of intensity of exercise on excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) in 8 trained men and 8 women. Three exercise intensities were employed 40, 50, and 70 of the predetermined VO2max. No differences in the 40, 50 and 70 VO2max trials were observed among resting levels of VO2 for either men or women. The men had significantly higher resting VO2 values being 0.31 (SEM 0.01) l/min than did the women, 0.26 (SEM 0.01) l/min. The results indicated that there were highly significant EPOC for both men and women during the 3-h postexercise period when compared with resting levels and that these were dependent upon the exercise intensity employed. The duration of EPOC differed between men and women but increased with exercise intensity: for the men 40 - 31.2 min; 50 - 42.1 min; and 70 - 47.6 min and for the women, 40 - 26.9 min; 50 - 35.6 min; and 70 - 39.1 min. The highest EPOC, in terms of both time and energy utilised was at 70 VO2max. The regression equation for the men, where y=O2 in litres, and x=exercise intensity as a percentage of maximum was y=0.380x+1.9 (r**2=0.968) and for the women is y=0.374x-0.857 (r**2=0.825). These findings would indicate that men and women had to exercise at the same percentage of their VO2max to achieve the maximal benefits in terms of energy expenditure and hence body mass loss. However, it was shown that a significant EPOC can be achieved at moderate to low exercise intensities but without the same body mass loss and energy expenditure.