Table 3.

Peak values of the main investigated variables, determined at exhaustion during the incremental exercise, before and after the standard intervention of body mass reduction (CTRL group) or the standard intervention combined with the RMET program (RMET group)

	RMET group (n = 8)		CTRL group (n = 8)		P Interaction	P group	P time
	PRE	POST	PRE	POST
$\dot{V}$O2 (L/min)	3.49 ± 0.50	3.63 ± 0.58	2.91 ± 0.53	2.92 ± 0.31#	0.56	0.01	0.50
$\dot{V}$O2/BM (mL/min/kg)	26.6 ± 3.5	30.1 ± 7.0	23.4 ± 4.2	24.3 ± 3.3#	0.34	0.04	0.11
$\dot{V}$CO2 (L/min)	3.38 ± 0.60	3.63 ± 0.50	3.00 ± 0.45	2.96 ± 0.33#	0.20	0.03	0.34
fR (breaths/min)	40.2 ± 6.2	42.8 ± 7.9	43.3 ± 10.5	42.8 ± 9.3	0.21	0.72	0.36
V T BTPS (L)	2.1 ± 0.4	2.2 ± 0.4	2.1 ± 0.3	2.1 ± 0.3	0.53	0.53	0.46
$\dot{V}$ E BTPS (L/min)	83.6 ± 17.0	92.9 ± 20.3	87.4 ± 22.8	86.2 ± 11.6	0.16	0.87	0.27
R	0.97 ± 0.06	1.01 ± 0.04	1.04 ± 0.11	1.02 ± 0.09	0.16	0.87	0.27
PETO2 (mmHg)	102.5 ± 6.5	103.7 ± 6.2	99.2 ± 7.2	99.3 ± 6.5	0.52	0.26	0.47
PETCO2 (mmHg)	45.5 ± 5.1	45.1 ± 7.5	40.2 ± 6.4	38.8 ± 5.4	0.56	0.07	0.31
$\dot{V}$ E/$\dot{V}$O2	24.1 ± 3.4	25.8 ± 3.4	29.6 ± 5.2#	29.0 ± 4.1	0.04	0.04	0.31
$\dot{V}$ E/$\dot{V}$CO2	24.8 ± 2.8	25.7 ± 3.5	28.5 ± 3.9	28.6 ± 3.4	0.47	0.07	0.31
HR (beats/min)	172.3 ± 15.8	173.3 ± 8.5	173.1 ± 3.8	171.7 ± 9.2	0.60	0.94	0.92
Waking velocity (km/h)	6.0 ± 0.0	6.1 ± 0.2	6.1 ± 0.2	6.1 ± 0.2	0.09	0.69	0.55
Walking slope (%)	5.9 ± 2.2	8.6 ± 2.1***	7.9 ± 2.3	8.9 ± 1.5	0.007	0.35	< 0.0001
TE (sec)	690 ± 250	1028 ± 250***	908 ± 300	1020 ± 187	0.004	0.41	< 0.0001

BM, body mass; fR, respiratory rate; HR, heart rate; PETCO₂, CO₂ end‐tidal pressure; PETO₂, O₂ end tidal pressure; R, respiratory gas‐exchange ratio; TE, Time to exhaustion; RMET, respiratory muscle endurance training; $\dot{V}$ _E, pulmonary ventilation; $\dot{V}$CO₂, CO₂ output; $\dot{V}$O₂, O₂ uptake; V_T, tidal volume. Values are expressed as mean±SD.

***P < 0.001; Bonferroni post‐hoc test to locate the statistically significant differences within groups.

^# P < 0.05; Bonferroni post‐hoc test to locate the statistically significant differences between groups.