VST-dominant intervention with intermediate supervisory monitoring restructured ventilatory patterns, increasing tidal volume by 79.8% and decreasing respiratory frequency by 52.8% in one athlete.
Case Report (n=2)
Does the VST protocol improve ventilatory patterns in athletes outside the WorldTour cohort, and what is the role of intermediate supervisory monitoring?
The VST ventilatory signature appears reproducible in non-WorldTour athletes, but intermediate supervisory monitoring may be crucial to prevent non-individualized ventilatory manipulation drift.
Background. The Ventilatory Strategies EC01 elite amateur cyclist (30 years, 72 → 69 kg), multimodal intervention including isocapnic training but without intermediate monitoring until February 2025, followed by re-targeting of isocapnic exercise execution and introduction of a variable-resistance inspiratory training device (PowerBreathe K3). Results. TRI01 exhibits a progressive and coherent restructuration of the ventilatory pattern across the three profilings: at iso-power ~290 W, Rf decreases from 36.49 to 17.21 cycles·min⁻¹ (−52.8 %), Tv increases from 2.52 to 4.53 L (+79.8 %), and VE remains controlled (−14.4 %) between baseline and 12 months. EC01 shows in February 2025 a calibration drift characterized by a focus on Rf reduction without maintenance of tidal volume at rising intensity: at 322 W, Tv decreases to 3.24 L from 3.49 L at the previous stage, VE collapses to 91.61 L·min⁻¹ (vs. ~135 L·min⁻¹ expected at this intensity). After isocapnic re-targeting and introduction of structured inspiratory training, the June 2025 profiling shows at iso-power ~284 W a Tv maintained at 4.19 L and a VE of 92.20 L·min⁻¹ consistent with metabolic demand, accompanied by an improvement in FeO₂ (15.58 % vs. 16.99 % in February).Conclusion. The VST directional signature (Tv ↑, Rf ↓, VE-constrained) appears reproducible outside the WorldTour cohort. The qualitative differential between the two trajectories — optimized signature in TRI01, documented intermediate drift then corrected in EC01 — is compatible with a determining role of intermediate supervisory monitoring in the quality of restructuration. This differential is furthermore convergent with the reference case documented by Ricci a prospective design would remain necessary to establish robust causality.
Cyril Ricci (Tue,) conducted a case report in Athletes (n=2). Ventilatory Strategies & Training (VST) protocol was evaluated on Longitudinal trajectory of the ventilatory pattern. VST-dominant intervention with intermediate supervisory monitoring restructured ventilatory patterns, increasing tidal volume by 79.8% and decreasing respiratory frequency by 52.8% in one athlete.