**3.3 About physical performance**

The role of EP in physical performance is controversial, while some papers report that EP improves physical performance, others have not found changes with respect to control groups. In part, this is because EP protocols are not optimized.

Studies using remote IPC improve the performance of the swimming, cycling and running time test in a range of ~3–5%. However, in other studies, the CPI seems to have no effect on physical performance.

Although what most studies want to demonstrate is the increase in performance by the IPC, it is difficult to obtain promising results if the participation of the biochemical mediators produced during the IPC is overlooked and who are responsible for the beneficial effects of the exercise in the organisms, regardless of whether they confer improvements in physical performance or not. Until now, the mechanisms that contribute to the possible benefits of the IPC in physical performance are not fully defined, but they can be the same as those activated during the classic IPC. It has been described that the IPC improves the performance of supraximal exercise by increasing accumulated oxygen deficit (AOD), an indicator of glycolytic capacity, so that a greater glycolytic capacity due to the increase in AOD could be a potential mediator involved in improving physical performance [28].

It has been reported that improved metabolic stress increases ischemic preconditioning for exercise performance, amplification of the ischemic preconditioning stimulus increases the effect on exercise capacity [29].

In addition, in the aerobic function and the performance of the 4 km cycling time test, it suggests that the acute CPI shows some potential as a strategy to improve performance for well-trained cyclists before high-intensity exercise [30].

On the other hand, coupled with the molecular mechanisms associated with the beneficial effect of EP in the cardiovascular system, the nervous system through vagal cardiac control in high-strength athletes has generally been associated with adequate recovery to training and preparation to face the highintensity training. Therefore, a method that improves vagal cardiac control in endurance athletes could be advantageous. IPC increases rapid cardiac vagal reactivation after exercise at exercise intensities below the lactate threshold in endurance runners [31].

However, some negative reports about preconditioning on physical performance indicate that remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) does not have a practical ergogenic impact on speed skating performance on long runs of 1000 m in elite athletes. The relevance of using RIPC during training to increase physiological stress in sprinters deserves further investigation [32].

The IPC does not improve sprint performance of 10 or 20 m in athletes [33]. Although the IPC accelerated recovery to a certain extent in the short term, the long-term recovery of the autonomous cardiac control of the repeated sprint exercise (RSE) did not change, and this accelerating effect was not accompanied by any effect of the IPC on surrogates of the responses of energy metabolism to RSE [33].

It is extremely important to standardize EP tests in order to establish adequate exercise plans to increase physical performance in athletes and improve their health conditions.

The role of EP to improve physical performance of athletes seems to be a field with many controversies, this is due to the great variability between the protocols used, the type of exercise to which the athletes are subjected, the variables studied, to name a few.

**33**

*Ischemic Preconditioning in Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Induced by Exercise*

volume and temperature, among others, are still to be understood.

the ability to challenge the body to activate it is preserved. Sequential.

The EP confers protection to the tissues, perhaps immediately this does not translate to improve physical performance, but in a prolonged time course is likely

This chapter describes the mechanisms involved in the protective effect of EP on the cardiovascular system, skeletal muscle and physical performance. Although EP seems to contribute to mitigate tissue damage due to ischemia, the role of calcium in PD, the molecular interactions it evokes, the contribution of pH, the role of blood

The EP studies are constantly increasing, we can find a lot of information in the scientific literature, in much of this information we discuss the protective role of PD on tissues (even in the nervous), but there is other information that is little Clear and seems to encourage discussion between different research groups, this one speaks on the one hand of the possible role of EP in improving physical performance and on the other hand, those who document not finding improvements in

In this sense, it is important to clarify that preconditioning is a multifactorial phenomenon, and that its success depends to a large extent on the protocol used and the rigorous control of the variables, in addition it is a phenomenon highly dependent on the type, ie there are windows temporary in which we can observe preconditioning and others where we have damage. In addition, preconditioning is a reversible phenomenon, that is, its protective role can only be observed in periods of time, although there has been talk of a muscle memory, it seems to exist only if

EP is undoubtedly one of the most interesting phenomena of exercise physiology, its therapeutic potential is real, it is being used in the clinic, it is used in the exercise protocols, but if we want to understand the phenomenon we must work seriously to elucidate the mechanisms that participate and how they relate to each other, that is, to study the complexity of the system with the greatest control of the

The authors thank the IntechOpen editorial team for the follow-up to the work and their kind interest in contributing to the development of science in the develop-

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88309*

to indirectly contribute to increase it.

physical performance after a EP protocol.

variables and under standardized protocols.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

ing countries.

**4. Conclusion**

The EP confers protection to the tissues, perhaps immediately this does not translate to improve physical performance, but in a prolonged time course is likely to indirectly contribute to increase it.
