The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2021 Feb 02

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.21.10894-1

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Validity of differentiated ratings of perceived exertion for use during AQUATIC cycling

Pierre FONTANARI ¹ ✉, Marcus PEIKRISZWILI TARTARUGA ², Olivier CARON ¹

¹ LAMHESS - Laboratoire Motricité Humaine, Expertise, Sport, Santé, Université de Toulon, Toulon, France; ² LABIER - Midwest State University of Paraná, Guarapuava, Brazil and UFPR - Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

BACKGROUND: Although aquabiking has become widespread, the assessment of the intensity for aquatic cycling remains poorly defined.
METHODS: This study investigated the validity of differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (dRPE) recorded from the chest (RPE-Chest) and legs (RPE-Legs) during aquatic cycling and aimed to determine a simple and accurate estimate of dRPE to regulate aquabiking. Twelve active young subjects performed a pedaling task on an immersed ergocycle using randomly imposed cycling cadences ranging from 50 to 100 rpm in 5- minute steps interspersed by 3-minute active recovery periods. dRPE and cardiorespiratory responses (heart rate, HR; percentage of heart rate peak value, %HRpeak; oxygen uptake, V̇O2; and percentage of peak oxygen uptake, %V̇ O2peak) were measured during the last minute of each level.
RESULTS: The data described three-step relationships between dRPE and rpm. RPE-Chest and RPE-Legs increased linearly only for cadences between 60 and 90 rpm (r=0.81 and r=0.88, respectively; p<0.001). At these cadences, significant relationships were also observed between dRPE and all the physiological data (highest Pearson product moment for %V̇ O2peak: 0.81 for RPE-Chest and 0.88 for RPE-Legs, p<0.0001). Last, the classic signal dominance from the legs was observed (RPE-Legs > RPE-Chest, p<0.0001) but was reduced compared with data obtained during dryland cycling, suggesting a modulating effect of the aquatic medium.
CONCLUSIONS: Cycling cadence was the better estimator of RPE-Legs, which seemed to be the more appropriate dRPE to regulate the intensity of aquabiking in a safe range of pedaling rates.

KEY WORDS: Differentiated ratings of perceived exertion; Cycling cadence; Cardiorespiratory responses; Aquatic cycling