ES 381: Exercise Physiology Laboratory
Blood Lactate Assessment and Anaerobic Fitness
Instructions: Lab activities will be completed in small groups and discussion is encouraged, but the
submitted written lab reports must be submitted as independent work, written in the student’s own words.
While the use of textbooks, online resources, and class materials to assist with learning of material is
encouraged, students must submit lab reports that are phrased in their own words, without material copied
from resources or other students. See a further description of academic integrity and plagiarism in section
XIV of the syllabus. Lab reports will be submitted on UB Learns by Fridays at 11:59pm.
File names of lab reports should be listed as follows: LastName, FirstName LabName Lab Report.
For example, the first lab report should be saved as Doe, Jane Primary Data Collection Lab Report.
Individually, complete Lab Activity 13.6
Answer 13.6 Lab Questions
1. Using the average of trials 1 and 2 of the Margaria Kalamen test, calculate your power in kgm/sec
and convert it to Watts and Watts/kg.
Subject
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Weight
(kg)
107
55.7
53.5
70.3
86.2
75
70.45
65
72.2
106.8
79.8
79.55
62
Distance
(m)
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
1.085
Trial 1
1.19
Trial 2
0.87
0.72
0.53
0.72
0.97
0.75
0.69
0.56
0.75
0.68
0.75
0.68
0.72
0.75
0.56
0.71
0.72
0.65
0.72
0.65
0.75
0.66
0.69
0.65
0.69
Power
Power
Average
(kg/m/s)
Power (W) (W/kg)
1.03
112.714
1105.382 10.3306748
0.735
0.545
0.715
0.845
0.7
0.705
0.605
0.75
0.67
0.72
0.665
0.705
82.224
106.509
106.679
110.683
116.250
108.423
116.570
104.449
172.952
120.254
129.792
95.418
806.369
1044.535
1046.201
1085.467
1140.064
1063.305
1143.204
1024.335
1696.143
1179.333
1272.871
935.769
14.477
19.5240275
14.881951
12.5924201
15.20085
15.0930426
17.5877603
14.18746
15.8814851
14.7786042
16.0008947
15.0930426
2. Using the data from all of your classmates, calculate the mean and standard deviation of power in
Watts and Watts/kg. How does your data compare to the class data? How do you compare to the
normative data presented in Table 13.13 of the lab manual? Is this what you expected? Why or
why not?
Using the data from above, the mean power for the entire class is 1118.70 Watts. The mean
power for the entire class is 15.05 Watts/kg. The standard deviation of power is 207.56 Watts.
The standard deviation of power is 2.19 Watts/kg. Compared to the normative data, the class
ES 381: Exercise Physiology Laboratory
would be rated Excellent in the female normative data and Poor in the male normative data. This
is what I expected since our class consists mostly of males and the data is more scaled towards
males than females.
3. Explain in what types of athletic populations you would expect to see large or small power
outputs from this test.
I would expect to see Olympic weightlifters and gymnasts to have large power outputs from this
test, since both sports requires immense amounts of leg power to excel in both of these respective
sports. I would expect to see runners and rowers have small power outputs, because these athletes
do not require little to no power from their legs, rowers, or their legs need to be optimized to
sustain small levels of power over long periods of time, runners, to excel at their respective sport.
In groups of 4, complete Lab Activity 11.1, followed by 13.5, followed by 11.3. We are modifying
11.3 so that all subjects continue to cycle against a slow, light resistance while measuring blood
lactate for 10 minutes.
Answer Lab Questions
1. Report the resting lactate value for your subject. Is this a value that is expected at rest? Why or
why not?
The resting lactate value for my subject was 1.4 mM. This value is what is expected at rest since
the typical normal lactate value for a person is usually between 1-2 mM.
2. If you had a subject who had a resting lactate >4.0mM, what could be a reasonable explanation?
If a subject who had a resting lactate >4.0mM, I would assume that either the subject recently
exercised and still has lactate within their system still or the subject has poor kidneys as their
body is not adequately dealing with the blood lactate properly.
3. Create a figure that plots the blood lactate of each of the subjects in your lab. Plot the data
individually for each subject, so there should be one line per subject who completed the test in
your lab section. Plot blood lactate on the y-axis and time on the x-axis. Indicate when the
subjects were resting, completing the Wingate test, and recovering.
ES 381: Exercise Physiology Laboratory
Blood Lactate (mM) vs. Time (min)
Blood Lactate (mM)
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Time (min)
4. Discuss the time course of lactate accumulation and clearance in your subject. When did lactate
peak? Did your subject return to baseline within the 10 minutes?
Lactate accumulation was highest at the beginning of the post-recovery period and slowly cleared
as the time went on. As said, lactate peaked at the beginning of the post-recovery period. The
subject did not return to baseline within the 10 minutes. The subject’s lactate baseline was 1.4mM
and the subject was at a lactate of 9.7mM at 10 minutes.
5. What would you expect to happen to lactate if the subject had not cycled to cool down and
instead simply sat still after the Wingate? Why?
If the subject had not cycled to cool down and simply sat still after the Wingate, the lactate levels
would be even higher in the post-recover than otherwise with a cool-down. This is because the
cool-down helps clear lactate from the working muscles better than remaining still due to an
increased blood flow with continued work rate from the cool-down vs. remaining still.
6. Many people are taught that lactic acid causes delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS).
Explain if this is true. Use your data in your explanation. What causes DOMS?
Even though many people are taught that lactic acid causes delayed onset of muscle soreness
(DOMS), it is wrong. Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness or DOMS is caused by microscopic
tears in skeletal muscle tissue fibers that were used in the workout previously.
7. Calculate the mean power output and relative mean power output for your subject.
The mean power output for Subject #1 is 316 W. The relative mean power output for Subject #1
is 5.89 W/kg.
8. Calculate the fatigue index for your subject and describe what this means.
ES 381: Exercise Physiology Laboratory
The fatigue index for Subject #1 is 55.53%. The fatigue index is the degree of power drop-off
during the power test.
9. Discuss the results of the Wingate test for your subject. How do their results compare to the
normative data provided in Table 13.12 of the Lab Manual? Is this what you would expect given
their training status and exercise history?
The results of the Wingate test for Subject #1 are the following. Subject #1 had a peak power of
426.44 W and a fatigue index of 55.53%. Compared to the normative data for Table 13.12 of the
Lab Manual, Subject #1 is between the 80th and 90th percentile for college-aged females. This is
what was expected given the training status and exercise history of Subject #1.