Muscle-damaging exercise 48 h prior to a maximal incremental exercise treadmill test reduces time to exhaustion: is it time to reconsider our pretest procedures?

Pretest guidelines typically stipulate that no exercise should be performed 48 h prior to a maximal incremental exercise (Formula presented.) test. However, no study has specifically investigated if this timescale alters key outcome variables associated with (Formula presented.). Twenty apparently healthy males split into two equal groups performed (Formula presented.) during three visits (visits 1–(Formula presented.) EXP1, 2–(Formula presented.) EXP2 and 4–(Formula presented.) EXP3). The experimental group only, performed muscle-damaging exercise during visit 3. From (Formula presented.) EXP2 to (Formula presented.) EXP3 average time to exhaustion (TTE) decreased by 45 s (9%) (p < 0.01), maximum blood lactate decreased by 1.2 mmol/L (11%) (p = 0.03), and perceived readiness decreased by 8 mm (18%) (p = 0.01). There were no changes in any (Formula presented.) variables in the control group (p ≥ 0.37). Performing (Formula presented.) 48 h following muscle-damaging exercise impairs specific, but not all, physiological outcome variables.