Continuous rise in oxygen consumption during prolonged military loaded march in the heat with and without fluid replacement: a pilot study.

Introduction: V̇O₂ drift, the rise in oxygen consumption during continuous exercise, has not been adequately reported during prolonged military marches. The purpose of this study was to analyse V̇O₂ and energy expenditure (EE) during a loaded march with and without rehydration efforts. Second, the study aimed to compare EE throughout the march with predicted values using a validated model.

Methods: Seven healthy men (23±2 years; V̇O_2max: 50.8±5.3 mL/kg/min) completed four 60 min loaded marches (20.4 kg at 50% V̇O_2max) in a warm environment (30°C and 50% relative humidity). Three were preceded by hypohydration via a 4-hour cold water immersion (18°C). The control (CON) visit was a non-immersed euhydrated march. After water immersion, subjects were rehydrated with 0% (NO), 50% (HALF) or 100% (FULL) of total body mass lost. During exercise, V̇O₂ and EE were collected and core temperature change was calculated. To determine if EE could be accurately predicted, values were compared with a calculated estimate using the US Army Load Carry Decision Aid (LCDA).

Results: At the start of exercise, there was no difference between conditions in V̇O₂ (ALL: 24.3±0.3 mL/kg/min; p=0.50) or EE (ALL: 8.6±1.0 W/kg; p=0.68). V̇O₂ (p=0.02) and EE (p<0.01) increased during exercise and were 12.3±10.0% and 12.8±9.5% greater, respectively, at 60 min across all trials and were not mitigated by rehydration amount. There was an effect of core temperature change on V̇O₂ for each condition (CON: r=0.62; NO: r=0.47; HALF: r=0.70; FULL: r=0.55). LCDA-predicted values were different from measured EE during exercise.

Conclusion: V̇O₂ drift occurred during loaded military marches and was associated with increases in EE and core temperature change. Pre-exercise hypohydration with water immersion followed by rehydration did not influence the degree of drift. LCDA prediction of EE may not agree with measured values during prolonged loaded marches where V̇O₂ drift occurs.