Effects of a maximal cycling all-out anaerobic test on visual performance

ABSTRACT

Clinical relevance

All-out exercise may not impair all central nervous system processes, such as those related to visual-motor abilities, and may actually prove stimulatory to such tasks allowing athletes and sports conditioning specialists to develop strategies to take advantage of/mitigate the effects of such exercise on athletic performance.

Background

Despite research indicating that visual-motor abilities play a critical role in athletic performance, research has primarily focused on the effect of all-out exercise on processes along the motor pathway, such as resultant force production or simple cognitive tasks. Such research has neglected to investigate the effect of all-out exercise on visual tasks. When investigations on visual tasks are forthcoming, they focus on prolonged aerobic exercise, which is not the primary metabolic pathway for all, or even the majority of sports.

Methods

Sixty untrained males (experimental group; N = 30, control group; N = 30) completed a standardised six-item baseline sports vision test battery and one week later, the experimental participants returned to undertake a 30-second Wingate anaerobic test (30-WAnT) immediately followed by the same test battery.

Results

Significant (P < 0.05) improvements were found in accommodation facility, saccadic eye movement, speed of recognition, peripheral awareness and hand-eye coordination (P < 0.001 for all), but not visual memory (P = 0.242) following the 30-WAnT.

Conclusions

Although the mechanisms underlying these improvements in visual task performance have not yet been studied, this study suggests that simple anaerobic all-out exercise does not cause central- or brain-based fatigue impairing the oculomotor system but may rather provide “excitability” of the underlying motor cortex, motoneurons and/or corticofugal connections utilised in visual task response. It appears that the sweeping improvements in visual task performance elucidate the need for an intense anaerobic warm-up when training visual skills and when visual skills form an integral part of athletic performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Anaerobic threshold
• anaerobiosis
• exercise
• muscle fatigue
• psychomotor performance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Brandon S Shaw, upon reasonable request.