Improvements in Oxygen Consumption at Ventilatory Thresholds Are Limited by Its Proximity to VO2max: Toward a Threshold-Based Training Prescription

Individuals with a lower threshold position before training had a greater improvement with training in oxygen uptake at thresholds, regardless of the specific oxygen uptake at thresholds before training. It seems that VO2max limits the improvements in VO2VT1 and VO2VT2 in individuals with a higher %VO2maxVT1 and %VO2maxVT2 before training (ceiling effect of VO2max on VO2VT1 and VO2VT2). As a practical application, we can say that the threshold with a lower position (ie, lower %VO2maxVT1 or %VO2maxVT2) should be prioritized, independent of the oxygen consumption at thresholds (VO2VT1 or VO2VT2).