| The pattern athlete used to hold the pace during exercise was called pacing strategy. Among many factors that associated with pacing strategy, endpoint expectation plays an important role. Research on the role endpoint expectation played has important significance in selecting pacing strategy in sports and in taking exercise scientifically.Objectives:Part 1:The purpose was to select a suitable treadmill speed and exercise duration for subsequent experimental trials. Part 2: The main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of knowledge of running length (i. e., duration or distance), or the lack of it (unknown endpoint) on physiological and psychological variables. Part 3:This study investigated the effects of varying the anticipated number of all-out sprints on physiological and psychological variables mentioned in part 2.Methodology:In part 1,55 male students completed an incremental test until exhaustion to determine maximal heart rate (HRmax), and peak treadmill running speed. In part 2,29 male students performed three bouts of treadmill running at 12.5 km/h. In one trial, subjects were informed that they would run for 14 minutes (T-14min), in the second trial, subjects was told that they would run for 3 km (T-3km), In the third trial, subjects were not told for how long they would be running (T-none). Exercise load of the three running was the same. Exercise self-efficacy was measured before experiment. During each trial, heart rate (HR), oxygen consumption (V02), Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and displeasure/pleasure (Feeling) were measured every 2 minutes. In part 3,26 male students completed two trials of repeat 50m sprints. In one trial, subjects were told that they would be performing a set of 5×50m sprints (T-5). In another, they were told to perform a set of 8×50m (T-8). During each 50m run, the same variables mentioned in part 2 were measured.Results:The suitable treadmill speed was selected as 12.5km/h, and the exercise duration was 14 minutes. HR and V02 of T-3km was significantly higher than those of T-none (p<.05); at the later stage of exercise, EPOC of T-3km and T-14min was significantly higher than those during T-none (p<.05). During exercise, it had a trend that HR, V02 and RPE of T-none were lower than those of T-14min and T-3km, Feeling was reverse, HR and V02 of T-none was significantly lower than those of T-3km (p<.05) when exercise was close to its end. RPE and Feeling during the later stage of exercise were significently correlated with exercise self-efficacy and HR. All variables had no difference between T-5 and T-8, but HR and V02 significantly changed than those of the time point adjacent at the first and last time point under each conditions. (p<.05)Conclusion:Endpoint expectation has effects on physiological and psychological index in varying degrees. When the end of exercise was specific, the individual tend to experience higher arousal, higher energy expenditure, lower RPE, higher Feeling during endurance exercise than when the end of exercise was indefinite. This suggested that althletes should forget the end of exercise temporarily in order to save energy during endurance exercise or competition; as for keep fit, in order to consume more energy and have less negetive psychological experience, the individual should pursue exercise with specific end. Exercise self-efficacy can be looked as an integrated index to represent physiological and psychological status at later period of exercise, reflecting volitional characteristics of athletes or adhercnce to exercise of individuals who attend exercise. |
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