Active Female Maximal and Anaerobic Threshold Cardiorespiratory Responses to Six Different Water Aerobics Exercises

Abstract

Purpose: Maximal tests conducted on land are not suitable for the prescription of aquatic exercises, which makes it difficult to optimize the intensity of water aerobics classes. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the maximal and anaerobic threshold cardiorespiratory responses to 6 water aerobics exercises. Volunteers performed 3 of the exercises in the sagittal plane and 3 in the frontal plane. Method: Twelve active female volunteers (aged 24 ± 2 years) performed 6 maximal progressive test sessions. Throughout the exercise tests, we measured heart rate (HR) and oxygen consumption (VO₂). We randomized all sessions with a minimum interval of 48 hr between each session. For statistical analysis, we used repeated-measures 1-way analysis of variance. Results: Regarding the maximal responses, for the peak VO₂, abductor hop and jumping jacks (JJ) showed significantly lower values than frontal kick and cross-country skiing (CCS; p < .001; partial η² = .509), while for the peak HR, JJ showed statistically significantly lower responses compared with stationary running and CCS (p < .001; partial η² = .401). At anaerobic threshold intensity expressed as the percentage of the maximum values, no statistically significant differences were found among exercises. Conclusion: Cardiorespiratory responses are directly associated with the muscle mass involved in the exercise. Thus, it is worth emphasizing the importance of performing a maximal test that is specific to the analyzed exercise so the prescription of the intensity can be safer and valid.

Keywords::

• aquatic exercises
• heart rate
• maximal progressive test
• oxygen consumption

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by grants from CAPES and CNPq. The authors wish to thank the INBRAMED Company for their invaluable contribution to this study.