Gender differences on Physiological, Perceptual and Affective responses during treadmill walking at a Self-Selected Pace

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of gender on physiological, perceptual, and affective responses during treadmill walking at a self selected pace. METHODS: Thirty-four apparently healthy adults were assigned to two groups according to their gender (men, N = 17, age = 24.0 ± 3.3 yr, VO2max = 57.3 ± 5.9 ml·kg-1·min-1; and women, N = 17, age = 22.5 ± 2.6 yr, VO2max = 45.9 ± 5.6 ml·kg-1.min-1). Each participant performed (a) a familiarization trial, (b) an incremental treadmill test to determine VO2max, and (c) a 20-min treadmill walking bout at a self-selected pace. During the 20-min bout of walking at a selfselected pace, the physiological (oxygen uptake, VO2) responses were recorded continuously. Furthermore, the perceptual (Borg-RPE for the overall body, 6-20) and affective (Feeling Scale, Hardy & Rejeski, 1989) responses were measured every 5 min throughout the test. An independent t test was used to compare differences between physiological, perceptual and affective responses during walking at a self-selected pace between men and women. RESULTS: The self-selected walking speed was similar between the two groups (1.65 ± 0.18 and 1.50 ± 0.12 m.sec-1 for men and women, respectively). However, the VO2 during walking at a self-selected pace was higher in men than in women (21.2 ± 5.5 vs. 18.3 ± 2.7 ml·kg-1.min-1, respectively, P < .05), corresponding to 37.5 ± 10.7 and 40.3 ± 7.2 %VO2max, respectively (P < .05). Otherwise, men and women showed similar perceptual (10.2 ± 1.0 vs. 9.8 ± 1.2, respectively) and affective (3.0 ± 1.1 vs. 3.2 ± 1.3, respectively) responses during 20-min of treadmill walking at a self-selected pace. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study demonstrate that physiological, but not perceptual and affective responses of healthy adults, are influenced by gender during treadmill walking at a self-selected pace.