Physiological responses to incremental, interval, and continuous counterweighted single-leg and double-leg cycling at the same relative intensities

Purpose We compared physiological responses to incremental, interval, and continuous counterweighted single-leg and double-leg cycling at the same relative intensities. The primary hypothesis was that the counterweight method would elicit greater normalized power (i.e., power/active leg), greater electromyography (EMG) responses, and lower cardiorespiratory demand. Methods Graded-exercise tests performed by 12 men (age: 21 ± 2 years; BMI: 24 ± 3 kg/m 2 ) initially established that peak oxygen uptake ( V ˙ O 2 peak ; 76 ± 8.4%), expired ventilation ( V ˙ E peak ; 71 ± 6.8%), carbon dioxide production ( V ˙ CO 2 peak ; 71 ± 6.8%), heart rate (HRpeak; 91 ± 5.3%), and power output (PPO; 56 ± 3.6%) were lower during single-leg compared to double-leg cycling (main effect of mode; p