Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been utilized as a noninvasive method to evaluate skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in humans, by calculating muscle V̇o₂ (V̇o₂m) recovery (off-) kinetics following short light-intensity plantar flexion exercise. The aim of the present study was to determine V̇o₂m off- kinetics following standard cycle ergometer exercise of different intensities. Fifteen young physically active healthy men performed an incremental exercise (INCR) up to exhaustion and two repetitions of constant work-rate (CWR) exercises at 80% of gas exchange threshold (GET; MODERATE) and at 40% of the difference between GET and peak pulmonary V̇o₂ (V̇o₂p; HEAVY). V̇o₂p and vastus lateralis muscle fractional O₂ extraction by NIRS (Δ[deoxy(Hb+Mb)]) were recorded continuously. Transient arterial occlusions were carried out at rest and during the recovery for V̇o₂m calculation. All subjects tolerated the repeated occlusions protocol without problems. The quality of the monoexponential fitting for V̇o₂m off-kinetics analysis was excellent (0.93≤r²≤0.99). According to interclass correlation coefficient, the test-retest reliability was moderate to good. V̇o₂m values at the onset of recovery were ~27, ~38, and ~35 times higher (in MODERATE, HEAVY, and INCR, respectively) than at rest. The time constants (τ) of V̇o₂m off-kinetics were lower (P < 0.001) following MODERATE (29.1 ± 6.8 s) vs. HEAVY (40.8 ± 10.9) or INCR (42.9 ± 10.9), suggesting an exercise intensity dependency of V̇o₂m off-kinetics. Only following MODERATE the V̇o₂m off-kinetics were faster than the V̇o₂p off-kinetics. V̇o₂m off-kinetics, determined noninvasively by the NIRS repeated occlusions technique, can be utilized as a functional evaluation tool of skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism also following conventional cycle ergometer exercise.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study in which muscle V̇o₂ recovery kinetics, determined noninvasively by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) by utilizing the repeated occlusions method, was applied following standard cycle ergometer exercise of different intensities. The results demonstrate that muscle V̇o₂ recovery kinetics, determined noninvasively by the NIRS repeated occlusions technique, can be utilized as a functional evaluation tool of skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism also following conventional cycle ergometer exercise, overcoming significant limitations associated with the traditionally proposed protocol.

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