ARTICOLI ORIGINALI   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2014 July-August;173(7-8):383-92

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Power output validation during incremental exercise on an immersible ergocycle

Leone M. ², Garzon M. ¹, Dionne A. ³, Bui H. T. ⁴, Comtois A. S. ¹

¹ Kinanthropology Department, University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Montreal, QC, Canada; ² Kinesiology and Health Sciences Department, University of Quebec in Chicoutimi (UQAC), Saguenay, QC, Canada; ³ Kinesiology Division, Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Laval University, Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada; ⁴ Engineering Division, Applied Sciences Department, University in Quebec in Chicoutimi, QC, Canada

AIM: Aim of the study was to determine the workload yielded by the pedaling system of an immersible ergocycle (IE) during different pedaling rates (rpm) based on energetic costs.
METHODS: Healthy informed volunteers (n = 36) performed incremental exercise tests to maximum while pedaling on an IE with only the pedaling system being immersed or on a dryland ergocycle (DE). The regression equation of V.O2 as a function of load (W) obtained during DE for every subject was used to calculate the estimated load using the V.O2 measured during IE.
RESULTS: The following equations were obtained to calculate load and V.O2 on IE, respectively: Load (W) = 57.5 – 2.877 x rpm + 0.0523 x rpm2 (r = 0.972, SEE = 20.28 W) and V.O2 (L min-1) = 1.51 – 0.0514 x rpm + 0.0008 x rpm2 (r = 0.974, SEE = 0.26 L*min-1).
CONCLUSION: This study provides a means of calculating power output at various pedaling rates with an IE only having the pedaling system being immersed. This is a necessary step in order to eventually estimate and compare the cardiorespiratory response as a function of different immersion levels vs the load (W) on land.