Caloric expenditure of resistance exercises: Application of the accumulated oxygen deficit

The purpose of this dissertation was to quantify the oxygen cost of flat barbell bench press (BP) and parallel leg squat (PS) exercise during multiple steady state conditions, and from these values extrapolate the caloric expenditure of these actions when lifting heavier loads. A secondary purpose was to compare the results predicted in the current study to results reported in previous investigations.; Thirty healthy male subjects (23 participated in bench press, 20 participated in squat), ages 18 to 45 years, had their squat depth and bench press range of motion (distance lifted) measured along with their 1-RM tests for the bench and the squat to calculate loads lifted for test 2 and 3. Subjects then completed 1 or 2 additional test sessions which were scheduled for separate weeks. Protocols for test 2 and 3 consisted of five 5-minute bouts of exercise at either 5--23% of 1-RM for bench press or 31--57% of 1-RM for the back squat (equivalent to ∼3 - 25% of 1-RM of above body weight load). Exercise intensities were conducted on each subject in random order and each trial was separated by 5 minutes of recovery.; Indirect calorimetry was applied during the bench press (BP) and parallel squat (PS) exercises at several steady state intensities. Steady state VO 2 data, along with the independent variables load and distance lifted, were used in multiple regression to predict the cost of resistance training (RT) at higher loads. The prediction equation for BP was Y' = 0.132 + (0.031)(X 1) + (0.01)(X2), R2 = 0.728 and Sxy = 0.16, while PS can be predicted by Y' = -1.424 + (0.022)(X1) + (0.035)(X2), R2 = 0.656 and Sxy = 0.314; where Y' is VO2, X1 is the load measured in kg and X 2 is the distance in cm. Based on an respiratory exchange ratio (RER) of 1.0 and a caloric equivalent of 5.05 Kcal/L, VO2 was converted to caloric expenditure (Kcal/min). Using those equations to predict caloric cost, the resultant values were significantly larger than caloric costs of RT reported in previous investigations. Despite a potential limitation of our equations to maintain accuracy during very high intensity RT, we propose that they currently represent the most accurate method for predicting the caloric cost of bench press and parallel squat.