“Responders and Non-Responders to Aerobic Exercise Training: beyond the Evaluation of V̇O2max”, Felipe Mattioni Maturana, Rogerio N. Soares, Juan M. Murias, Philipp Schellhorn, Gunnar Erz, Christof Burgstahler, Manuel Widmann, Barbara Munz, Ansgar Thiel, Andreas M. Nieß2021 ()⁠:

The evaluation of the maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O2max) following exercise training is the classical assessment of training effectiveness. Research has lacked in investigating whether individuals that do not respond to the training intervention (V̇O2max), also do not improve in other health-related parameters.

We aimed to investigate the cardiovascular and metabolic adaptations (ie. performance, body composition, blood pressure, vascular function, fasting blood markers, and resting cardiac function and morphology) to exercise training among participants who showed different levels of V̇O2max responsiveness. Healthy sedentary participants engaged in a 6-week exercise training program, 3× a week.

Our results showed that responders had a greater increase in peak power output, second lactate threshold, and microvascular responsiveness, whereas non-responders had a greater increase in cycling efficiency. No statistical differences were observed in body composition, blood pressure, fasting blood parameters, and resting cardiac adaptations.

In conclusion, our study showed, for the first time, that in addition to the differences in the V̇O2max, a greater increase in microvascular responsiveness in responders compared to non-responders was observed. Additionally, responders and non-responders did not show differences in the adaptations on metabolic parameters.

There is an increasing need for personalized training prescription, depending on the target clinical outcome.

Figure 2: Overview of responders’ classification using the highest density interval (HDI) and region of practical equivalence (ROPE) method. The graph displays the ΔV̇O2max (delta of maximal oxygen uptake) of each participant. The black dots show the ΔV̇O2max, curves are the normal distribution curves derived for each individual given the measurement error around the ΔV̇O2max value. The horizontal black lines are the 89% HDI derived from each curve, and vertical dashed lines around zero are the calculated ROPE (ie. −80 to 80 ml·min−1). Refer to Table 3 for an overview of the levels of statistical-significance from the ROPE + HDI decision-making method applied to responders’ analysis.

…2.9.3. Training monitoring: All exercise training sessions were performed on a cycle ergometer (ec5000, custo med GmbH) and participants’ heart rate and ECG were constantly monitored (3-channel ECG, custo med GmbH). After every training session, the exercise training data (ie. second-by-second power output, cadence, and heart rate) were exported and stored for subsequent processing.

2.9.4. Minimum adherence: In order for participants to be included in the final analyses, a minimum of 15⁄18 prescribed exercise sessions had to be completed (minimum adherence =83.3%). If participants did not complete the minimum required number of sessions, they were considered as dropouts (n = 2).