The influence of protocol design on the identification of ventilatory thresholds and the attainment of peak physiological responses during synchronous arm crank ergometry in able-bodied participants.

Purpose: To examine the effects of stage duration on power output (PO), oxygen uptake (VO), and heart rate (HR) at peak level and ventilatory thresholds during synchronous arm crank ergometry.

Methods: Nineteen healthy participants completed a ramp, 1-min stepwise, and 3-min stepwise graded arm crank exercise test. PO, VO and HR at the first and second ventilatory threshold (VT1, VT2) and peak level were compared among the protocols: a repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to test for systematic differences, while intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) and Bland-Altman plots were calculated to determine relative and absolute agreement.