Passive versus Active Recovery during High-Intensity Intermittent Exercises

Purpose: To compare the effects of passive versus active recovery on muscle oxygenation and on the time to exhaustion for high-intensity intermittent exercises. Methods: Twelve male subjects performed a graded test and two intermittent exercises to exhaustion. The intermittent exercises (15 s) were alternated with recovery periods (15 s), which were either passive or active recovery at 40% of V̇O2max. Oxyhemoglobin was evaluated by near-infrared spectroscopy during the two intermittent exercises. Results: Time to exhaustion for intermittent exercise alternated with passive recovery (962 ± 314 s) was significantly longer (P < 0.001) than with active recovery (427 ± 118 s). The mean metabolic power during intermittent exercise alternated with passive recovery (48.9 ± 4.9 mL·kg -1·min-1) was significantly lower (P < 0.001) than during intermittent exercise alternated with active recovery (52.6 ± 4.6 mL·kg-1·min-1). The mean rate of decrease in oxyhemoglobin during intermittent exercises alternated with passive recovery (2.9 ± 2.4%·s-1) was significantly slower (P < 0.001) than during intermittent exercises alternated with active recovery (7.8 ± 3.4%·s-1), and both were negatively correlated with the times to exhaustion (r = 0.67, P < 0.05 and r = 0.81, P < 0.05, respectively). Conclusion: The longer time to exhaustion for intermittent exercise alternated with passive recovery could be linked to lower metabolic power. As intermittent exercise alternated with passive recovery is characterized by a slower decline in oxyhemoglobin than during intermittent exercise alternated with active recovery at 40% of V̇O2max, it may also allow a higher reoxygenation of myoglobin and a higher phosphorylcreatine resynthesis, and thus contribute to a longer time to exhaustion.