Ánalise da atividade muscular e consumo de oxigênio no ciclismo dentro e fora da água

Abstract

Exercises in the water, as water cycling, have been used as an alternative way forsports training and rehabilitation. However, there is few information about thebiomechanical characteristics of water cycling. This information is important for abetter understanding of the effects of water exercises. Thus, the purposes of thisstudy were to analyze and to compare the muscular activity and oxygen consumptionin the cycling performed inside and outside the water. The sample was composed of15 healthy men (25,07 ± 5,31 years, 72,5 ± 6,10 kg, 1,74 ± 0,03 m). They performedtests of aerobic capacity in cycle ergometry stationary on land (CEL) and in water(CEW). Oxygen consumption was measured by submaximal constant exercises inboth cycle ergometry and, finally, the muscle activation of the muscles rectusfemorais (RF), vastus lateralis (VL) and hamstring (HM) was recorded for the sameexercises submaximal performed. The water cycling was performed with immersionuntil the manubrium and water temperature around 32 °C. The data were analyzedusing SPSS 15.0 and the significance level for all statistical tests was set at 5% (-value = 0,05). The results showed that there was significant difference in maximumoxygen consumption between CEL and CEW, being higher in the CEL than in theCEW (3,96 ± 0,36 L.min-1 and 3,51 ± 0,47 L.min-1, respectively, p<0,05). The powerin the CEW was estimated by oxygen consumption of the submaximal exercisesperformed in both cycle ergometry. There was no significant difference between thecondition CEL at 40 rpm with 40 W and CEW at 40 rpm (0,871±0,078 L.min-1 and0,884±0,077 L.min-1, respectively, p = 0,980) and between the condition CEL at 50rpm with 100 W and CEW at 50 rpm (1,454±0,052 L.min-1 and 1,384±0,141 L.min-1,respectively, p = 0,177). The muscular activity was compared between thesubmaximal exercises for both cycle ergometry for the same powers. The resultsshowed that there was significant difference between the muscles activities of the RFat the cadence of 40 rpm (p = 0,046) and there were no differences for the othermuscles (VL and HM). It was concluded that the aquatic environment influencesmaximum oxygen consumption. Through the oxygen consumption was possible todetermine the power of the exercises performed in submaximal CEW and muscleactivation in CEL and CEW was equal when compared at the same power, except forthe RF to the cadence of 40 rpm.