The aim of this study was to extend the range of populations where the Talk Test (TT) might be used as a marker of physiologic thresholds. Eighteen highly-trained cyclists underwent two incremental tests. One test included measurement of respiratory gas exchange to determinate the ventilatory (VT) and respiratory compensation (RCT) thresholds. On a separate day, a TT was performing using the same exercise protocol. During TT subjects read a standard paragraph at the end of each stage. The first stage at which the cyclist could not talk comfortably and could definitely not talk were referred to as the equivocal (EQ) and the negative stages (NEG), respectively. There were no significant differences in workload, heart rate, lactate and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) between VT (3.7 +/- 0.4 W[middle dot]kg-1, 150 +/- 10 bpm, 1.6 +/- 0.3 mm[middle dot]l-1 and 4.1 +/- 1.4, respectively) vs. EQ (3.6 +/- 0.4 W[middle dot]kg-1, 148 +/- 12 bpm, 1.3 +/- 0.5 mm[middle dot]l-1 and 3.8 +/- 1.2, respectively) and RCT (5.3 +/- 0.4 W[middle dot]kg-1, 177 +/- 7 bpm, 4.0 +/- 0.9 mm[middle dot]l-1 and 7.2 +/- 1.0, respectively) vs. NEG (5.3 +/- 0.5 W[middle dot]kg-1, 176 +/- 10 bpm, 4.2 +/- 1.3 mm[middle dot]l-1 and 6.8 +/- 1.5, respectively). We found significant relationships (p < 0.01) between VT & EQ and RCT & NEG for workload (r = 0.86 and 0.94, respectively), HR (r = 0.79 and 0.92, respectively) and RPE (r = 0.79 and 0.88, respectively). In conclusion, the present study showed that the EQ and NEG stages of the TT can be used as a simple and practical surrogate of the VT and RCT in highly-trained cyclists.

(C) 2012 National Strength and Conditioning Association