Blood flow restriction during high-intensity interval cycling exacerbates psychophysiological responses to a greater extent in females than males.

This study aimed to characterize neuromuscular, perceptual, and cardiorespiratory responses to high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with superimposed blood flow restriction in males and females. Twenty-four, healthy individuals (n = 12 females) completed two cycling HIIT protocols to task failure (1-min work phases at 90% of peak power output interspersed by 1-min rest phases). The blood flow restriction (BFR) and control (CON) protocols were identical except for the presence and absence of BFR during rest phases, respectively. The interpolated twitch technique, including maximal voluntary isometric knee extension (MVC) and femoral nerve electrical stimuli, was performed at baseline, every six intervals, and task failure. Perceptual and cardiorespiratory responses were recorded every three intervals and continuously during exercise, respectively. Bayesian inference was used to obtain the joint posterior distribution for all parameters and evidence of an effect was determined via the marginal posterior probability (PP). The BFR shortened task duration by 57.3% compared with CON (PP > 0.99), without a sex difference. The application of BFR exacerbated the rate of decline in neuromuscular measures (MVC and twitch force output), increase of perceptual responses (perceived effort, pain, dyspnea, fatigue), and development of cardiorespiratory parameters (minute ventilation and heart rate), compared with CON (PP > 0.95). In addition, BFR exacerbated the neuromuscular, perceptual, and cardiorespiratory responses to a greater extent in females than males (PP > 0.99). Our results suggest that superimposition of blood flow restriction exacerbates psychophysiological responses to a HIIT protocol to a greater extent in females than males.NEW & NOTEWORTHY To our knowledge, no study has explored sex differences in the neuromuscular, perceptual, and cardiorespiratory indices characterizing exercise tolerance during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) with blood flow restriction (BFR) applied only during rest periods. Our results suggest that BFR elicited a decline in exercise performance that could be attributed to integration of psychophysiological responses. However, this integration was sex-dependent where females demonstrated an exacerbated rate of change in these responses compared with males.