Sympathetic adaptations to one-legged training

Cardiovascular Center and Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242; and Departments of Medicine and of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033 The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of leg exercise training on sympathetic nerve responses at rest and during dynamic exercise. Six men were trained by using high-intensity interval and prolonged continuous one-legged cycling 4 day/wk, 40 min/day, for 6 wk. Heart rate, mean arterial pressure (MAP), and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA; peroneal nerve) were measured during 3 min of upright dynamic one-legged knee extensions at 40 W before and after training. After training, peak oxygen uptake in the trained leg increased 19 ± 2% ( P