Exercise prescription to females in aquatic bicycle utilizing heart rate and perceived exertion

Abstract

The physical exercise in liquid environment has been extensively explored and used by the fitness centers. Equipments once used on land had been adapted to water, especially aquatic cycling. However, little is known about prescription of exercise on that equipment. The purpose of this study was to describe the behavior of HR and PE (Chest, Legs and Overall) in aquatic bicycle. Nineteen female participants (25 ± 4.6 years, 162.5 ± 5.4cm, 58.1 ± 5,7 kg) were tested The participants have been submitted to a graded test in aquatic bicycle, with initial load of 40 RPM and increments of 10 RPM every three minutes, until exhaustion. To test the linearity of loads a HR and PE regression was made in function RPM. The PE results were submitted to two way ANOVA for repeated measures (PE×RPM) followed by TUKEY post hoc test (p < 0,05) , and correlated with RPM. The HR increased linearly due to the increase of 10 RPM each stage (r=0.98). PE chest, legs and overall was correlated with RPM (r=0.99). HRmax observed (178 ± 9 bpm) was lower than HRmax assumed for the age group (195 ± 4 bpm) like the PE chest categories in relation to PE legs and PE overall. In conclusion we can prescribe exercise in aquatic bicycle for female using RPM, HR and PE. KEYWORDS: liquid environment, cicloergometer, trainament, grated test