Determining Lung Volume Capacities of Active Bouldering Sport Athletes

Abstract

Aim: This study sought answers to the problem of whether the lung respiratory volume capacities of boulder sport climber athletes are completely different by gender, or if there is a difference only in some parameters. The study was carried out with 12 male and 13 female athletes competing in the youth boulder sports climbing Turkish championships. Athletes with a training history of more than two years were included in the study with a preliminary evaluation of their training histories and physical characteristics. Demographic information such as the age and gender of the athletes were recorded, and their height, weight, and BMI (body mass index) levels were determined to form a homogeneous group. Athletes with physically similar characteristics were included in the study. The lung breathing capacities of the boulder sport climbers were measured using the MIR Spirolab 4 spirometer device. These measurements were conducted at least three times on each athlete, and their best values were recorded. During the spirometry measurements, the athletes were seated and dressed in comfortable clothing. Additionally, spring nose clips were attached to the athletes' noses to prevent air leakage. At the time of the measurements, the air temperature was in the range of 18-22 °C and humidity was 30-60%. The data obtained were analyzed in the SPSS 22.0 package software, and a free seven-day trial version of GraphPad Prism 8 was used for presenting the figures. To determine the normality of the data, the Kolmogorov Smirnov test, histogram charts, skewness and kurtosis, q-q plot, and stem-leaf plots were examined, and the distribution was observed to be normal. Independent samples t-test was used to determine the difference between the two groups. The level of significance was considered as p