Abstract
The cardiorespiratory (CR) benefits of aquatic exercise have been well established. However there is a lack of a standardized non-swimming protocol to accurately assess CR fitness in shallow water. PURPOSE: To assess: 1) reliability of a Shallow Water Run (SWR) test of CR fitness; and 2) validity of a SWR test using a land-based treadmill (LTM) as the criterion. METHODS: : Twenty-three healthy females (age, 20 ±3 yrs; body mass index (BMI); 23.5 ±3 kg·m-2), performed two shallow water VO2 peak running tests (SWRa & SWRb), and one maximal land-based treadmill test (LTM). Reliability of the SWR was assessed by comparing mean values of SWRa and SWRb with a paired t-test and by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) between tests of VO2peak (ml·kg-1·min-1), HR (b·min-1), cardiorespiratory efficiency (O2 pulse)(VO2 ·beat-1), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), peak Ve (l·min-1), and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE). Test validity was determined by comparing mean differences between SWR and LTM tests using paired t-tests and Pearson’s correlations for VO2peak (ml·kg-1·min-1), HR (b·min-1), and O2 pulse (VO2 ·beat-1), RESULTS: ICC’s indicated moderately-strong reliability for VO2peak (r=0.73; p<.01), HRpeak (r=0.82; p<.01), and O2 pulse (r = 0.85; p<.01) between the two trials, with a moderate agreement observed for Peak Ve (r=0.50; p<.05). A paired t-test revealed no differences in cardiorespiratory variables between SWRa and SWRb with the exception of a greater HRpeak observed in the SWRa trial (p<.05). Comparison of peak CR responses measured during the LTM and SWR tests indicated that SWR VO2peak and HR were significantly lower than LTM (p<0.05), and showed moderate correlations of r=0.60 and r=0.58 (p<.01) to LTM. O2 pulse was similar (p>.05) between SWR and LTM with a moderate correlation of 0.57. CONCLUSIONS: The SWR test as an estimate of CR fitness is a valid and reliable alternative to land-based protocols for young healthy females. Follow-on research should consider the suitability of the SWR test for clinical populations and injured athletes.
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