2.3. Exercise Training
RPE
-20
Participants attended four sessions before the commencement of the training to familiarize patients with exercise. During familiarization sessions, eccentric or concentric cycling was performed (5–20 min) at ~25% of their self-perceived maximum effort. After this, participants performed eccentric or concentric cycling training for 12 weeks with a total number of training sessions of 34. Training frequency started with two times per week, on weeks 1–2, and progressed to three times per week from weeks 3 to 12. Training intensity was moderate and increased from 11 to 13 on the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) from a 6-20 Borg’s scale. Training time started from 10 min in week 1 to 30 min in week 12. Training total workload was different between CONC and ECC as for the same RPE, the ECC training group performed a much higher training average workload ECC = 226.6 ± 101.9 vs. CONC = 78.1 ± 62.7 kJ; 