european college of sport science

UTILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE STEP TEST IN WATER BASED ACTIVITIES
RAFFAELLI, C., LANZA, M., ROSATI, F., GALVANI, C.
FACULTY OF EXERCISE AND SPORT SCIENCES - UNIVERSITY OF VERONA
PP-TT14 Training and Testing 14
Applied Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Catholic University of Milan, Italy
Introduction: The Actiheart –AH- (Cambridge Neurotechnology, UK) is a relatively new waterproof device that combines heart rate (HR)
and activity data for objectively measuring physical activity (PA) and inferring energy expenditure (EE). It has been already demonstrated
(Brage, 2005) that the ramped step test, designed to establish the individual heart rate (HR) physical activity intensity (PAI) relationships
and to derive a prediction equation for fitness, allows a greater accuracy in the estimation of physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE)
activities on land.
The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility and validity of the step test in water based activities (WA).
Methods: 12 physically active women (age 26±2,9 yr; BMI 19,7±1,6 kg/m2; resting V’O2 3,4±0,6 ml/kg/min) volunteered to participate in
the study and performed in two separate weeks the following tests: a laboratory test (incremental test to exhaustion on treadmill) in order
to identify the actual maximal oxygen consumption (V’O2max, K4b2, Cosmed, Italy) and two ramped step tests (one on land and the
other in water). Oxygen consumption was measured continuously throughout the step tests by indirect calorimetry (IC) and participants
wore the AH on the chest for simultaneous estimation of HR-PAI relationships. V’O2max was predicted at the end of the step tests from
AH data.
Results: HR-PAI relationships obtained with IC, even if significantly correlated (r=,905, p