Bessa, A., de Oliveira, V. N., da Silva, R. J., Damasceno-Leite, A., & Expindola, F. S. (2010). Biochemical tools for determining exercise intensity. Presentation 876 at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; June 2-5.

This study determined the blood appearance and clearance kinetics of injury and immune response markers after high intensity concurrent training. Male top level amateur athletes (N = 9) cycled for one hour at 85% of their VO2peak immediately after performing six deep squat sets of maximum repetitions at 85% of 1RM. Blood samples were collected before and 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after the exercise.

Creatine kinase was 300% elevated after three hours post-exercise reaching a 400% rise at 12 hours, remaining higher than pre-exercise levels until 24 hours and then returning to pre-exercise levels within 48 hours. Lactate dehydrogenase activity rose 25% after three hours and 56% six hours after the exercise, returning to pre-exercise levels at ~12 hours. Leucocytes rose 50% after the exercise, with a fast response coming from neutrophils, which increased 80% three hours after and a lymphocytes slow-response increasing over 40% 12 hours after the exercise. Cardiac troponin T (cTnT), Gamma-Glutamiltransferase (yGT), C-reactive protein (CRP), platelets, and hematocrit remained stable during the experiment.

Implication. Creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase presented a kinetic behavior faster than classically described in the literature and they are most likely to have been released from the skeletal muscle since cTnT, yGT, hematocrit and platelets did not change, eliminating both heart and liver injury and dehydration as response causes. White blood cell mobilization also reflected the extent of muscle damage and consequently could be used to infer the intensity of the exercise. It was also shown that these cells are selectively mobilized in response to exercise independently of hemo-concentration and systemic inflammation.

Athletes participating in resistance training and other machine exercises (e.g., spinning) should have at least 48 hours rest between demanding sessions. Otherwise, destructive effects on muscles will be taken to primary sport training and the response there compromised.

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