Study design

The study description was reported in Figure 1. The volunteers were randomly divided in two groups (Control and GPR). Participants completed both trials in a quiet temperature-controlled room (23 ^◦C) at the same time period to eliminate any influence of circadian variation. The subjects visited the laboratory on the occasions, with at least 48 hours apart from each occasion: (a) a familiarization of laboratory-equipment, (b) an exercise test to exhaustion followed by (c1) an active recovery period using GPR stimulation or (c2) or an active recovery without GPR stimulation (noGPR). Specifically, all the volunteers were engaged in the exhaustive incremental test at then splitted in two sub-groups of 20 volunteers, one group completed GPR recovery and the other one completing low intensity recovery. Subjects were asked to abstain from exercise for 24 h and to fast at least 4 h prior to laboratory visits to reduce the effects of these factors on the study variables.

Scheme depicting the entire study protocol GPR = global proprioceptive resonance, HR = heart rate, RR = respiratory rate, SpO² peripheral O² saturation, Lactate = lactate concentration.