Aerobic Profile of Climbers During Maximal Arm Test

Abstract

This study compared measurements of upper body aerobic fitness in elite (EC; n=7) and intermediate rock climbers (IC; n=7), and a control group (C; n=7). Subjects underwent an upper limb incremental test on hand cycle ergometer, with increments of 23 W · min(-1), until exhaustion. Ventilation (VE) data were smoothed to 10 s averages and plotted against time for the visual determination of the first (VT1) and second (VT2) ventilatory thresholds. Peak power output was not different among groups [EC=130.9 (±11.8) W; IC=122.1 (±28.4) W; C=115.4 (±15.1) W], but time to exhaustion was significantly higher in EC than IC and C. VO(2 PEAK) was significantly higher in EC [36.8 (±5.7) mL.kg(-1).min(-1)] and IC [35.5 (±5.2) mL.kg(-1).min(-1)] than C [28.8 (±5.0) mL.kg(-1).min(-1)], but there was no difference between EC and IC. VT1 was significantly higher in EC than C [EC=69.0 (±9.4) W; IC=62.4 (±13.0) W; C=52.1 (±11.8) W], but no significant difference was observed in VT2 [EC=103.5 (±18.8) W; IC=92.0 (±22.0) W; C=85.6 (±19.7) W]. These results show that elite indoor rock climbers elicit higher aerobic fitness profile than control subjects when measured with an upper body test.