Ischemic Preconditioning Improves Strength Endurance Performance

ABSTRACTCarvalho, L and Barroso, R. Ischemic preconditioning improves strength endurance performance. J Strength Cond Res 33(12)3332–3337, 2019—Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has been used to improve performances in aerobic and anaerobic activities. However, a few studies aimed at observing the effects of IPC on resistance training. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of IPC on the number of repetitions performed during high-load resistance training. We also aimed at investigating blood lactate concentration and muscle activation in an attempt to understand the physiological mechanisms that may be caused by IPC. Ten resistance-trained participants performed four 5-minute cycles of either IPC (250 mm Hg) or Placebo (10 mm Hg) before performing a single set to failure of knee extension exercise with 85% of 1 repetition maximum. We also assessed muscle activation during the set (EMGRMS), median power frequency (EMGMPF), and blood lactate concentration before, 3, 7, and 11 minutes after (peak value was identified and used to calculate delta to prevalues, Δlactate). Data are presented as mean, 90% confidence intervals (CIs), and were analyzed with paired t-test. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Participants performed on average 3.9 repetitions (90% CI = 2.4–5.4; p = 0.01), which is ∼20%, more in the IPC condition. There were no significant differences between IPC and Placebo for EMGMPF (5.0%; 90% CI = −5.2 to 15; p = 0.50), EMGRMS (4.5%; 90% CI = −8.8 to 17; p = 0.78), and Δlactate (44%; 90% CI = 11–144; p = 0.16). Our results demonstrate the effect of IPC just on the number of repetitions performed in high-load resistance exercise compared with the Placebo condition.