University Archives

 Rather than seeking universal pre/post-workout differences, this study characterizes individual physiological variability in breath gas responses to exercise. Breath samples collected through the Center for Augmenting Intelligence (CAI) at the University of Detroit Mercy were analyzed to investigate exercise-related variability in metabolic breath biomarkers. Samples from 150 student-athletes were analyzed for Acetone, Methane, Hydrogen, CO₂, and environmental factors, integrated with self-reported sleep, readiness, and nutritional timing data. Results demonstrate that exercise amplifies inter-individual variability rather than shifting group averages; post-workout interquartile ranges increased across most gases despite stable medians. Sport-specific patterns emerged, with Track & Field/XC and Soccer athletes showing the highest outlier frequencies. Multi-gas outliers (25 unique participants across 8 features) were exclusively male and consistently associated with >12-hour hydration gaps. These findings challenge one-size-fits-all breath analysis approaches and suggest personalized baselines are essential for athletic monitoring applications.