Abstract

This study compared measurements of upper body aerobic fitness in elite (EC; n=7) and intermediate rock climbers (IC; n=7), and a control group (C; n=7). Subjects underwent an upper limb incremental test on hand cycle ergometer, with increments of 23 W • min−1, until exhaustion. Ventilation (VE) data were smoothed to 10 s averages and plotted against time for the visual determination of the first (VT1) and second (VT2) ventilatory thresholds. Peak power output was not different among groups [EC=130.9 ( +/- 11.8) W; IC=122.1 ( +/- 28.4) W; C=115.4 ( +/- 15.1) W], but time to exhaustion was significantly higher in EC than IC and C. VO2 PEAK was significantly higher in EC [36.8 ( +/- 5.7) mL/kg/min] and IC [35.5 ( +/- 5.2) mL/kg/min] than C [28.8 ( +/- 5.0) mL/kg/min], but there was no difference between EC and IC. VT1 was significantly higher in EC than C [EC=69.0 ( +/- 9.4) W; IC=62.4 ( +/- 13.0) W; C=52.1 ( +/- 11.8) W], but no significant difference was observed in VT2 [EC=103.5 ( +/- 18.8) W; IC=92.0 ( +/- 22.0) W; C=85.6 ( +/- 19.7) W]. These results show that elite indoor rock climbers elicit higher aerobic fitness profile than control subjects when measured with an upper body test. Verf.-Referat