Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is an intervention where brief, repeated periods of limb ischemia are followed by reperfusion. It has been shown that IPC can protect the heart, skeletal muscle and endothelial cells from ischemia-reperfusion injury and improve their functions during stress situation [1, 2, 3]. As during high-intensity exercise local tissue hypoxia and metabolite accumulation are induced, high-intensity exercise partially can be considered as a form of ischemic stress [4]. There are studies that have shown improvements in exercise performance after acute IPC but still the results are controversial [5]. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of IPC on cycling performance during an incremental exercise test. Ten healthy individuals (5♂, 5♀; 29 ± 5 years,175 ± 8 cm, 76 ± 11 kg; values are means ± SD) on separate occasions did incremental cycling tests. Cycling test started at the power output of 50W and after every third minute power was increased by 30W until exhaustion. One of the tests was perceived by IPC that consisted of 3 cycles of 5 min ischemia followed by 5 min of reperfusion. Ischemia was induced 5 min before an exercise on both thighs with cuffs inflated at 200 mmHg pressure. Arterial blood pressure was measured before and directly after IPC. Cardiorespiratory parameters continuously were measured through the incremental exercise stress test. For aerobic and anaerobic threshold determination three methods were used (V-Slope, ventilation vs workload, EqO2 and EqCO2 vs workload). All values in results are represented as mean ± SE. To evaluate the difference between conditions paired samples t-test was used. IPC did not affect resting arterial blood pressure (p>0,05). Before and after IPC systolic blood pressure was 121,2 ± 4,1 mmHg and 121,6 ± 4,6 mmHg; diastolic blood pressure 74,5 ± 3,0 mmHg and 74,6 ± 3,3 mmHg, respectively. There was no difference between conditions at which intensity aerobic and anaerobic threshold was reached (p>0,05). Aerobic and anaerobic threshold in control condition (CON) was reached at VO2/kg 27,1 ± 1,4 ml/kg/min and 37,6 ± 1,9 ml/kg/min but in IPC condition at 26,8 ± 1,6 ml/kg/min and 37,9 ± 2,0 ml/kg/min, respectively. IPC increased time till exhaustion (p<0,05) (CON 1324,8 ± 61,6 s; IPC 1358,4 ± 62,6 s) that was accompanied by 4,6 ± 1,5 % improvements in VO2peak (CON 39,8 ± 2,0 ml/kg/min, IPC 41,6 ± 2,0 ml/kg/min, p<0,01). Arterial blood pressure before, during and after exercise did not differ between condition (p>0,05) except at maximal exercise intensity where systolic blood pressure was higher in IPC condition (204,7 ± 9,5 mmHg) than in CON (194,6 ± 9,1 mmHg) (p<0,01). IPC acutely does not affect exercise performance at submaximal intensity but improves aerobic capacity and endurance by modulating cardiovascular response at maximal intensity exercise.