The aim of this study was to determine the acute metabolic effects of different magnitudes of wearable resistance (WR) attached to the lower leg during submaximal running. Fifteen endurance-trained runners (37.8 ± 6.4 years; 1.77 ± 0.7 m; 72.5 ± 9.8 kg; 58.9 ± 7.4 L/min VO2max; 45.7 ± 5.8 min 10 K run time) completed seven submaximal running trials with WR loads of 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3% body mass (BM). Based on regression data, for every 1% BM increase of additional load, oxygen consumption (VO2) increased by 2.56% and heart rate increased by 1.16%. Inferential based analysis identified that ≤1% BM were enough to elicit responses in VO2, with a possible small increase (effect size (ES), 90% confidence interval (CI): 0.22, 0.17 to 0.39), while 3% BM loads produced a most likely very large increase (ES, 90% CI: 0.51, 0.42 to 0.60). A training load score was extrapolated using heart rate data to determine the amount of internal stress. An additional 1% BM resulted in an extra 0.39 (0.29 to 0.47) increase in internal stress over five minutes. Lower leg WR elicited substantial increases in lactate production from the lightest loading (0.5% BM), with a likely moderate increase (ES, 90% CI: 0.49, 0.30 to 0.95). Lower-leg positioned WR provides a running-specific overload with loads ≥ 1% BM resulting in substantial changes in metabolic responses.
Keywords: heart rate; limb loading; oxygen consumption.