Effect of warm-up on energy cost and energy sources of ballet dance exercise

To evaluate the effect of warm up on energy cost and energy sources of a ballet dance exercise, 12 adolescent talented female dancers performed a ballet exercise (30 s of tours piques en dedans on pointe) without and following a warm up. Warm up consisted in a light running followed by a period of stretching and two ballet exercises. The overall energy requirement of dance exercise (VO2eq) was obtained by adding the amount of VO2 during exercise above resting (aerobic source or VO2ex) to the VO2 up to the fast component of recovery (anaerobic alactic source or VO2al) and to the energy equivalent of peak blood lactate accumulation (anaerobic lactic source or VO2la-) of recovery. VO2eq of exercise preceded by warm up amounted to 37 +/- 3 ml kg(-1). VO2al represented the higher fraction (50 +/- 6%) of VO2eq, the remaining fractions were: 39 +/- 5% for VO2ex and 11 +/- 3% for VO2la-. VO2eq of exercise without warm up amounted to 38 +/- 3 ml kg(-1). This value was made up of: 26 +/- 6% by VO2ex, 56 +/- 6% by VO2al and 18 +/- 3% by VO2la-. Between exercise conditions, significant differences were found in VO2ex (P < 0.01), VO2la- (P < 0.01), and VO2al (P < 0.05). The metabolic power requirement, 1.6 times higher than subject's <(V)over dot > O-2max indicates a very demanding exercise. The anaerobic alactic source was the most utilized. It can be concluded that, when dance exercise was preceded by warm up, the anaerobic sources contribution decreased whereas the aerobic energy source increased.