Background and Study Aim. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of volleyball training on the development of exercise-induced arterial hypoxemia during incremental exercise in male competitive volleyball players. Material and Methods. Eight male amateur volleyball players (age 21±1.3 years) participated in a 6-week volleyball training program three times a week in the pre-season preparatory period. Before and after the training period, all players performed an incremental treadmill test to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), and oxyhemoglobin saturation (SaO2) was continuously measured using a pulse oximeter during the test. Maximal values of minute ventilation (VEmax), respiratory exchange ratio (RERmax), ventilatory equivalent for oxygen (VE/VO2) and carbon dioxide (VE/VCO2) were determined. Exercise-induced arterial hypoxemia (EIAH) was defined as a SaO2 decreased by at least 4% (deltaSaO2= -4%) from resting level. Results. All the players exhibited exercise-induced arterial hypoxemia before (deltaSaO2= -8.8±3.3%) and after (deltaSaO2= -8.31.5%) the training period. SaO2 was significantly decreased from 97.6±1% at rest to 88.7±2.7% at exhaustion before the training period, and from 97.2±1.1% at rest to 88.8±2.1% at exhaustion after training period (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in resting and lowest SaO2 values by comparison between the before and after training (p > 0.05). There were no significant changes in VO2max, VEmax, RERmax, VE/VO2 and VE/VCO2 after training period (p > 0.05). Conclusions. The results of this study showed that volleyball players with a history of anaerobic training may exhibit EIAH, but that 6-week volleyball training has no effect on the degree of exercise-induced arterial hypoxemia.
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