Repeated Supramaximal Exercise Testing

For each trial, participants were equipped with a chest-strap heart rate monitor (Polar, Beth Page, NY, USA). A capillary blood sample was then obtained prior to exercise (pre) as aforementioned. Participants then completed a 5 min standardized warm-up at 50 watts on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer (Monark, Varberg, Sweden) to a metronome set to 60 bpm. For the repeated supramaximal tests, participants completed 3 × 15 s Wingate Anaerobic Tests (WAnTs), as previously described by our lab [22 (link),24 (link),29 (link)]. Participants performed the WAnTs on an electronically braked cycle ergometer (Velotron, Racermate Inc., Seattle, WA, USA). Seat height was standardized between visits for each participant. To begin each WAnT, participants pedaled for 20 s against an unloaded resistance that was immediately ensued by a 10 s lead-in phase to allow for the attainment of maximal pedal rate. At the end of the lead-in phase, resistance was immediately applied at 7.5% of the participant’s body mass and they pedaled as hard and as fast as possible for 15 s. Participants then completed 2 additional WAnTs for a total of 3 supramaximal tests with a separation of 2 min of active recovery. After each WAnT, RPE (1–10 scale) was documented. All participants were verbally encouraged during the testing. Then, identical blood collection protocols were repeated.