Central and regional circulatory adaptations to one-leg training

Six young healthy male subjects performed submaximal and maximal exercise on bicycle ergometers with one leg and two legs before and after 8 wk of one-leg training with each of both legs. The following variables were measured during one- and two-leg exercise: oxygen uptake, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, cardiac output, leg blood flow, and iliac arteriovenous differences for oxygen and lactate. After training the maximal oxygen uptake during one- and two-leg exercise was increased by 19 and 11%, respectively. The corresponding cardiac outputs increased by 16 and 11%, respectively. During submaximal one-leg exercise, heart rate decreased by 11%, whereas a decrease of only 2% was seen during submaximal two-leg exercise. Mean blood pressure decreased by about 10 Torr in both types of exercise and during both submaximal and maximal exercise. Maximal leg blood flow increased only by 1.2 l/min during one-leg exercise. Leg blood flow and leg oxygen uptake were smaller during two-leg exercise than during one-leg exercise and more so after training. These findings indicate that one-leg exercise, compared with two-leg exercise, involves circulatory adaptations that respond differently to one-leg training. The findings further imply that oxygen supply to one large muscle group of exercising muscles may be limited by vasoconstriction when another large group of muscles is exercising simultaneously.