Changes in muscle oxygenation during weight-lifting exercise

The quantitative analysis of haemoglobin oxygenation of contracting human muscle during weight-lifting exercise was studied noninvasively and directly using near-infrared spectroscopy. This method was developed as a three-wavelength method which confirmed the volume changes in oxygenated haemoglobin (oxy-Hb), deoxygenated haemoglobin (deoxy-Hb) and blood volume (total-Hb; Oxy-Hb + deoxy-Hb). Nine healthy adult men with various levels of training experience took part in the study. Ten repetition maximum (10 RM) one-arm curl exercise was performed by all the subjects. Results showed that at the beginning of the 10-RM exercise, rapid increases of deoxy-Hb and decreases of oxy-Hb were observed. In addition, total-Hb gradually increased during exercise. These results corresponded to the condition of arm blood flow experimentally restricted using a tourniquet in contact with the shoulder joint, and they showed the restriction of venous blood flow and an anoxic state occurring in the dynamically contracted muscle. In three sets of lifting exercise with short rest periods, these tendencies were accelerated in each set, while total-Hb volume did not return to the resting state after the third set for more than 90 s. These results would suggest that a training regimen emphasizing a moderately high load and a high number of repetitions, and a serial set with short rest periods such as usually performed by bodybuilders, caused a relatively long-term anoxic state in the muscle.