Abstract
For individuals with lower extremity injury or disability, upper body exercise provides a mechanism of functional mobility training, car-diovascular fitness, as well as a means for clinical fitness assessment. However, the validity of fitness assessment relies on the efficacy of di-agnostic tools and measures in order to provide meaningful data to clinicians. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the SciFitTMPro II Arm Ergometer, a widely available upper body ergometer (UBE), is a reliable device for the determination of VO2Peak in fit able-bodied swimmers. Eight trained male swimmers (28 ± 9 yrs) performed two incremental protocols VO2Peak consisting of a 4-min warm-up at 15 W followed by 2 min at 50 W and progressing 10 W every 2 min until volitional exhaustion. There was a linear relationship between workload and VO2 in all trials (R = 0.96; p ≤ 0.01) while Cronbach’s alpha for test-retest reliability for VO2 was 0.98. In conclusion, the UBE is an accurate and reliable device for determination of VO2Peak in trained swimmers, and further may be a viable alternative trainingVO2Peak injured athlete.
Highlights
Upper body exercise is an important factor in the training and exercise prescription of various populations; it is important that researchers, clinical practitioners and coaches are able to properly quantify performance, as well as provide a means for accurate, consistent testing
The purpose of this study is to determine if the Pro II Arm Ergometer (SciFit, OK) is an accurate and reliable device for the determination of cardiovascular capacity in trained swimmers and the possible application to the general/clinical population
There was a linear relationship between WL and VOR2 EL at each stage for both trials (r2 = 0.922; p ≤ 0.01) while Cronbach’s alpha for test-retest reliability for REL 2 was 0.98
Summary
Upper body exercise is an important factor in the training and exercise prescription of various populations; it is important that researchers, clinical practitioners and coaches are able to properly quantify performance, as well as provide a means for accurate, consistent testing. Arm ergometry provides clinicians with a reliable tool to measure metabolic variation in a wide range of clinical populations ranging from those with disability to elite athletes who primarily utilize upper body musculature for their given activity (e.g., swimmers). Arm ergometry may provide swimmers and other athletes with a means of training while injured or unable to perform swim activities. Price and Campbell [2] hypothesized that a higher crank rate would avoid high muscular tension that exceeds perfusion pressure and impairs oxygen delivery to the tissues. In order to train appropriately, swimmers must perform ergometry bouts at higher speeds in order to gain benefit of available anaerobic energy systems
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