Perceived exertion during incremental cycling is not influenced by the Type A behavior pattern

Recent publications have perpetuated a concern that the Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) influences ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) during exercise testing. Previous studies of this topic used the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) which lacks validity for predicting the criterion Structured Interview (SI) for TABP and used exercise protocols that were unstandardized or yielded results that were uninterpretable for clinical exercise prescription. We used the SI to classify 44 normotensive men (18-35 y) according to TABP and compared their RPE during an incremental cycling test to peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak). Groups did not differ on maximal test performance or RPE at any stage of the test, even after adjusting RPE for small group variations in % VO2peak and ventilatory equivalent for oxygen, which are strong correlates of RPE during incremental exercise. The findings agree with our prior report [14] that no relationship existed between RPE and several self-report measures of TABP. We conclude that there is no empirical basis for the view that the Type A Behavior Pattern affects cycling performance or ratings of perceived exertion during standard exercise testing in young white men.