Influence of the Load Increase Rate During Incremental Tests on Aerobic Performance Indicators

Maximum oxygen consumption is an informative indicator of aerobic performance, and its assessment is associated with a significant investment of time. The paper compares the results of maximum tests with a stepwise increasing load with different duration of one load step: 15, 30, 60, 120, and 240 s. Maximum oxygen uptake, total operating time, and pair-wise relationship of protocols were assessed. There was no statistically significant difference in maximum oxygen uptake rate in protocols of different duration. Also, all the studied protocols showed a high correlation with each other (r = 0.92–0.97).