The influence of 10 mg carteolol/day on the serum concentrations of insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, free fatty acids, adrenaline, noradrenaline, blood glucose, blood lactate levels, on heart rate and systolic blood pressure was investigated during different workloads on a bicycle ergometer in a placebo-controlled randomised double-blind study involving twelve male volunteers. The subjects performed standardized increasing exercises until subjective exhaustion as well as three 40-minute endurance exercises of varying intensity, corresponding to a lactate concentration of 1.0 to 2.0 mmol/l, 2.5 to 3.5 mmol/l and more than 3.5 mmol/l in the region of the anaerobic threshold, each exercise being followed by one rest day. The most important findings are: --the ISA of carteolol is of significance for the influence on the heart rate at rest but plays a minor role with respect to the degree of reduction in the heart rate and blood pressure under exercise; --carteolol exerts a minor influence on the metabolic parameters investigated in this study. This can be partly ascribed to the pronounced ISA of carteolol. In the case of endurance exercises, which lead to blood lactate concentrations of more than 3 mmol/l, the blood glucose levels showed a tendency to decrease. However, this was not statistically significant.