Specificità dei test cardio-polmonari nel nuoto: comparazione tra il nuoto trattenuto e test aspecifici di laboratorio

The purpose of this study is to compare maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max), maximal heart rate (HRmax), and anaerobic threshold (AT) obtained by a swimming test (SW) and three other testing procedures: cycling (CY), running (RU), and arm cranking (AC). On separate day and randomly assigned, 12 male swimmers (age 19.2 ± 0.8 years, weight 68.9 ± 1.6 kg, and height 177.3 ± 1.7 cm), completed SW, CY, RU, and AC incremental tests to exhaustion. VO2max, HRmax, and AT were measured by a portable gas analyzer. To permit expired gases collection during SW testing, the device was connected to a modified snorkel system. During the SW the athletes showed a higher VO2max compared to the CY and the AC tests. There was no significant difference in VO2max between the SW and the RU test. The AT occurred at higher workloads during SW in comparison to the other tests. Moreover, the SW test induced a lower HR response with respect to the other tests. These results do not support the use of any unspecific testing procedures to estimate VO2max, HRmax, and AT for swimming. Thus, swimmers should be evaluated in their specific activity since prediction of physiological parameters for swimming from other kinds of efforts can be misleading. The most specific parameter appears to be AT, which showed the most relevant difference between the SW and the other tests.