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Published on: February 20, 2018
Acute hemoglobin responses during bench press exercise across relative loads and sport backgrounds: a cross-sectional
Toru Kosuge1, Tadamitsu Matsuda2, Susumu Yoshida3
1Graduate School of Health and Sport Science, Nippon Sport Science University, 7-1-1 Fukasawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan. 24sda09@nittai.ac.jp.
Purpose:
To compare acute hemoglobin responses during bench press (BP) exercise among bodybuilders (BB), powerlifters (PL), Paralympic powerlifters (PP), and untrained controls (CON), with emphasis on relative load and sport background.
Methods:
Thirty-eight participants (BB, n = 10; PL, n = 10; PP, n = 8; CON, n = 10) performed ten BP repetitions at 20%, 40%, and 60% of one-repetition maximum (1RM). Multichannel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to assess oxygenated hemoglobin (O₂Hb), deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb), and total hemoglobin (tHb) responses over the C3-Cz-C4 region. Linear mixed models were used to test the effects of group, condition, and their interactions.
Results:
The main effect of condition was significant for ΔO₂Hb in nine of ten channels and for ΔtHb in one channel (p_FDR_channel < 0.05). No group effects or group × condition interactions were observed for ΔO₂Hb, ΔHHb, or ΔtHb. Within-group post hoc analyses showed that ΔO₂Hb differences were observed mainly between 20 and 40% of 1RM (p_FDR_slice < 0.05), with fewer additional differences involving 60% of 1RM.
Conclusion:
Acute hemoglobin responses during BP were expressed primarily as ΔO₂Hb changes and were associated with relative load under the present low-to-moderate load conditions. Because group effects and group × condition interactions were not supported, these findings should be regarded as preliminary and descriptive rather than evidence of sport-specific adaptation or between-group differences in response magnitude. Observed O₂Hb changes represent regional hemodynamic responses, not direct measures of cortical activation or motor control processes.
