Background: Active exercise therapy plays an essential role in tackling the global burden of obesity. Optimizing recommendations in individual training therapy requires that the essential parameters heart rate HR(IAT) and work load (W/kg(IAT) at individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) are known. Performance diagnostics with blood lactate is one of the most established methods for these kinds of diagnostics, yet it is also time consuming and expensive.
Methods: To establish a regression model which allows HR(IAT) and (W/kg(IAT) to be predicted without measuring blood lactate, a total of 1234 performance protocols with blood lactate in cycle ergometry were analyzed. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to predict the essential parameters (HR(IAT)) (W/kg(IAT)) by using routine parameters for ergometry without blood lactate.
Results: HR(IAT) can be predicted with an RMSE of 8.77 bpm (p < 0.001), R2 = 0.799 (|R| = 0.798) without performing blood lactate diagnostics during cycle ergometry. In addition, it is possible to predict W/kg(IAT) with an RMSE (root mean square error) of 0.241 W/kg (p < 0.001), R2 = 0.897 (|R| = 0.897).
Conclusions: It is possible to predict essential parameters for training management without measuring blood lactate. This model can easily be used in preventive medicine and results in an inexpensive yet better training management of the general population, which is essential for public health.
Keywords: blood lactate; individual anaerobic threshold; performance diagnostics; training recommendation.