Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of a single-trial determination of maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) achieved via the aid of perceptually-regulated incremental exercise. Methods 14 trained male cyclists (age: 45 ± 8 yrs; height: 1.82 ± 0.06 m; mass: 79.7 ± 6.7 kg; VO2max: 4.09 ± 0.57 L·min-1) performed three trials of a submaximal incremental cycling test followed by a test to exhaustion at 116% of predicted VO2max. The intensity for each stage of the incremental test was regulated by participants to elicit perceived exertion levels of 9-15 on the Borg (6-20) scale. Linear regression was used to estimate VO2max at a perceived exertion level of 19. MAOD was calculated from the difference between predicted and actual oxygen demand in the test to exhaustion, reported in oxygen equivalents (O2 eq). A separate incremental test was used to measure VO2max directly. Results Correlation coefficients between perceived exertion and VO2 across trials were strong (r =0.99), and there were no between-trial differences in predicted VO2max (4.03 ± 1.04, 3.76 ± 0.53, and 3.69 ± 0.64 L·min-1, respectively; p = .142) or MAOD (2.75 ± 2.28, 2.50 ± 1.53, and 2.93 ± 1.40 L O2 eq, respectively; p = .633). Nevertheless, the coefficients of variation for predicted VO2max (14.2%) and MAOD (142.8%) were poor. Conclusions The prediction of VO2max from perceptually-regulated exercise displays a level of test-retest reliability which prevents its use as a means of evaluating MAOD reliably in a single-trial.
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