AUTHOR=Losnegard Thomas , Schäfer Daniela , Hallén Jostein 

TITLE=Exercise economy in skiing and running

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2014.00005

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2014.00005

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>Substantial inter-individual variations in exercise economy exist even in highly trained endurance athletes. The variation is believed to be determined partly by intrinsic factors. Therefore, in the present study, we compared exercise economy in V2-skating, double poling, and uphill running. Ten highly trained male cross-country skiers (23 ± 3 years, 180 ± 6 cm, 75 ± 8 kg, VO<sub>2peak</sub> running: 76.3 ± 5.6 mL·kg<sup>−1</sup>·min<sup>−1</sup>) participated in the study. Exercise economy and VO<sub>2peak</sub> during treadmill running, ski skating (V2 technique) and double poling were compared based on correlation analysis. There was a very large correlation in exercise economy between V2-skating and double poling (<italic>r</italic> = 0.81) and large correlations between V2-skating and running (<italic>r</italic> = 0.53) and double poling and running (<italic>r</italic> = 0.58). There were trivial to moderate correlations between exercise economy and the intrinsic factors VO<sub>2peak</sub> (<italic>r</italic> = 0.00–0.23), cycle rate (<italic>r</italic> = 0.03–0.46), body mass (<italic>r</italic> = −0.09–0.46) and body height (<italic>r</italic> = 0.11–0.36). In conclusion, the inter-individual variation in exercise economy could be explained only moderately by differences in VO<sub>2peak</sub>, body mass and body height. Apparently other intrinsic factors contribute to the variation in exercise economy between highly trained subjects.</p>