Thomas Larssen, Ole J Glesaaen, Jo Bruusgaard, Martin F Strand, John M Kalhovde, Espen Tønnessen, Thomas Haugen
{"title":"A comparative study of lactate threshold testing outcomes: walking vs. running.","authors":"Thomas Larssen, Ole J Glesaaen, Jo Bruusgaard, Martin F Strand, John M Kalhovde, Espen Tønnessen, Thomas Haugen","doi":"10.23736/S0022-4707.25.17054-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Although lactate threshold (LT) tests are widely used by athletes to evaluate endurance performance, such tests are not commonly applied in health controls among recreationally active subjects. This study aimed to investigate the test-retest reliability of walking as an exercise modality during LT testing and compare the test outcomes with those obtained during running.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Twenty-three male and female participants (25±3 year, 172±8 cm, 70±13 kg, and maximal oxygen consumption [VO<inf>2max</inf>] 51±5 mL·kg<sup>-1</sup>·min<sup>-1</sup>) performed four LT tests within 2-3 weeks, either using walking or running (two tests in each condition) protocols. The running tests were performed on a flat treadmill, and the pace increased by 1 km·h<sup>-1</sup> for each stage. During the walking tests, the pace was set to 6.5 km·h<sup>-1</sup>, and the incline increased by 2.5% for each stage. LT was determined based on a fixed blood lactate concentration of 4.0 mmol·L<sup>-1</sup>.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Similar reliability values were observed for the walking and running protocol, and all between-trial differences were trivial or small. Significantly lower heart rate at LT was observed for the walking vs. running condition, but all between-modality differences were trivial or small. Analysis revealed that LT occurred at a slightly lower workload in walking than running (11.4±1.4 vs. 12.0±1.3 metabolic equivalents [METs]).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Given the trivial to small differences in LT variables observed between running and walking, these two protocols cannot be used interchangeably. However, the present study shows that walking represents an alternative exercise modality during LT testing in recreationally active subjects.</p>","PeriodicalId":17013,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness","volume":" ","pages":"1330-1336"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.23736/S0022-4707.25.17054-0","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/7/18 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"SPORT SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Although lactate threshold (LT) tests are widely used by athletes to evaluate endurance performance, such tests are not commonly applied in health controls among recreationally active subjects. This study aimed to investigate the test-retest reliability of walking as an exercise modality during LT testing and compare the test outcomes with those obtained during running.
Methods: Twenty-three male and female participants (25±3 year, 172±8 cm, 70±13 kg, and maximal oxygen consumption [VO2max] 51±5 mL·kg-1·min-1) performed four LT tests within 2-3 weeks, either using walking or running (two tests in each condition) protocols. The running tests were performed on a flat treadmill, and the pace increased by 1 km·h-1 for each stage. During the walking tests, the pace was set to 6.5 km·h-1, and the incline increased by 2.5% for each stage. LT was determined based on a fixed blood lactate concentration of 4.0 mmol·L-1.
Results: Similar reliability values were observed for the walking and running protocol, and all between-trial differences were trivial or small. Significantly lower heart rate at LT was observed for the walking vs. running condition, but all between-modality differences were trivial or small. Analysis revealed that LT occurred at a slightly lower workload in walking than running (11.4±1.4 vs. 12.0±1.3 metabolic equivalents [METs]).
Conclusions: Given the trivial to small differences in LT variables observed between running and walking, these two protocols cannot be used interchangeably. However, the present study shows that walking represents an alternative exercise modality during LT testing in recreationally active subjects.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness publishes scientific papers relating to the area of the applied physiology, preventive medicine, sports medicine and traumatology, sports psychology. Manuscripts may be submitted in the form of editorials, original articles, review articles, case reports, special articles, letters to the Editor and guidelines.