Oxygen Metabolism of Moderate Exercise, with Some Observations on the Effects of Tobacco Smoking

Abstract

With the use of a closed-circuic metabolism apparatus, the avg. net efficiency of 5-min. cycling exercise at 614 kg. m./min. was 23.8%. The O2 debt, 17 cc./kg. body wt., was paid off with a half-time recovery rate of 46.4 sec. The mean ratio of debt to net O2 cost of the work was 0.215. Each of the men did the test exercise twice on each of 2 days. On one of the days the 2d exercise was preceded by the smoking of one or 2 cigarettes, a procedure which had no statistically significant effect on exercise metabolism in any of the measured aspects.