Table 2: Physiological responses at maximal exercise to a ramped and a staged exercise testing protocol with associated percent differences and effect sizes. VO2max: Maximal Oxygen Consumption, HR: Heart Rate; VE: Minute Ventilation, PWL: Peak Work Load, RER: Respiratory Exchange Ratio, RPE: Rating of Perceived Exertion, La: Blood Lactate, La-1: Blood Lactate at 1 minute Post-Exercise, GET: Gas Exchange Threshold, RCP: Respiratory Compensation Point Values are reported as mean ± SD. Significantly greater than ramp protocol *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001; †significantly greater than staged p<0.001.

Staged Ramp Gain Score
(Staged - Ramp)
%Difference Effect Size
VO2max (ml · kg-1 · min-1) 37.38 ± 8.52 38.05 ± 8.41 -0.26 ± 2.20 -0.02 0.01
Max. HR (beats · min-1) 184.32 ± 11.27** 181.54 ± 11.77 2.81 ± 9.75 0.02 -0.34
Max. VE (liters · min-1; BTPS) 110.41 ± 35.07* 105.58 ± 36.56 4.84 ± 15.96 4.37 -0.16
PWL (W) 224.74 ± 62.96 254.54 ± 64.03† -29.80 ± 23.29 -13.26 0.44
RER 1.21 ± 0.09 1.23 ± 0.07 -0.01 ± 0.07 -1.65 0.25
RPE 17.39 ± 1.80*** 16.35 ± 2.40 1.04 ± 2.29 5.98 -0.5
Time (minutes) 10.22 ± 2.6*** 6.59 ± 2.0 3.62 ± 1.56 35.52 -1.60
La (mmol · l-1) 7.39 ± 2.37*** 6.17 ± 2.25 1.22 ± 2.58 16.51 -0.57
Lactate-1 (mmol · l-1) 11.28 ± 2.64* 10.57 ± 2.45 0.71 ± 2.35 6.29 -0.27
GET (liters · min-1) (n=42) 1.85 ± 0.45 1.86 ± 0.41 -0.01 ± 0.26 -0.54 0.02
RCP (liters · min-1) (n=31) 2.78 ± 0.62 2.71 ± 0.62 0.07 ± 0.41 2.52 -0.11