Blood Pressure Responses To Serial Wingate Testing With And Without An Audience

Previous studies have found changes in cycling performance based on audience presence, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. PURPOSE: To measure the blood pressure response to Wingate tests performed with and without an audience. METHODS: We tested 37 subjects (22 females, 15 males) on a Wingate cycle ergometer. Each subject was tested twice, 72 hours apart. One trial was performed with age-matched audience members. The order of the trials was assigned in a counter-balanced design. Blood pressure was collected 60 seconds before and 60 seconds after each cycling session. Paired-samples t-tests compared blood pressure responses in the two sessions. Linear regressions assessed the effect of blood pressure response on the difference in Wingate power based on audience presence. RESULTS: Subjects were 20.4 ± 1.4 years of age. During session 1, pretest systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 115.8 ± 9.3 mmHg and diastolic pressure (DBP) was 63.8 ± 6.7 mmHg. No differences were observed in pretest SBP (p = 0.932), posttest SBP (p = 0.135), pretest DBP (p = 0.551), posttest DBP (p = 0.341), pretest pulse pressure (p = 0.564), or posttest pulse pressure (p = 0.436) between audience conditions. From session 1 to session 2 (regardless of audience presence), there were no differences in pretest SBP (p = 0.796), posttest SBP (p = 0.246), pretest DBP (p = 0.551), posttest DBP (p = 0.494), pretest pulse pressure (p = 0.768), or posttest pulse pressure (p = 0.521). From pretest to posttest, SBP increased 21.5 ± 10.2 mmHg without an audience (p < 0.001; 95% CI: 18.0 to 24.9 mmHg) and 24.0 ± 11.5 mmHg with an audience (p < 0.001; 95% CI: 20.2 to 27.9 mmHg); the difference was not significant (p = 0.202). From pretest to posttest, DBP decreased 12.5 ± 12.7 mmHg without an audience (p < 0.001; 95% CI: -8.3 to -16.7 mmHg) and 10.4 ± 11.5 mmHg with an audience (p < 0.001; 95% CI: -6.5 to -14.2 mmHg); the difference was not significant (p = 0.224). Linear regression found the difference in SBP increase based on audience presence did not predict the difference in peak (p = 0.786) or average (p = 0.803) Wingate power based on audience presence. CONCLUSIONS: Audience presence did not influence blood pressure response to a Wingate test, and Wingate power was not predicted by blood pressure response. Performance improvement is likely explained by other variables.