Comparison between water running and water cycling

Purpose: Water exercises offer a low-impact variety of movements on every axis. The selection of an appropriate physical activity and an individual exercise prescription are essential to obtain health and fitness outcomes.1 The aim of the present study was to determine individualised relative exercise intensities at four speeds of motion (rhythms) for water cycling and running. Methods: Fourteen active, apparently healthy females (23.2 ± 1.6 years) underwent a dry land maximal incremental protocol to exhaustion on a treadmill for VO2max assessment; then they engaged in water running with ground contact (RC), water running suspended (RS) and hydrobike (HB) tests in a swimming pool at the rhythms of 30, 40, 50, and 60 cpm, submerged at the individual xiphoid level. Gas exchanges (VO2), heart rate (HR), and blood lactate (bLa) were measured at each rhythm, for each exercise mode. Results: Maximal treadmill tests results were 2621.3±240.7 ml min-1, 45.4±5.4 ml kg-1 min-1 for VO2max, 196.8 ± 10.6 bpm for HR max and 10.4 ± 0.9 mM l-1 for La peak. The four motion speeds of the three water exercise modalities ranged from 50 to 95% of maximal HR and VO2, representing a moderate-to-vigorous training stimulus. RS compared to RC and HB elicited the significantly lowest VO2, (22–33 ml kg-1 min-1) at all exercise intensities, while bLa (3–5 mM l-1) and HR (138–150 bpm) were significantly lowest at 50 and 60 cpm only. HB compared to RC and RS presented the significantly highest VO2 (25–38 ml kg-1 min-1) and non-significantly highest bLa (2.2–7 mM l-1), reaching vigorous intensity at 50 cpm and near maximal intensity at 60 cpm. Conclusions: Since RS running does not have fixed points to push from, subjects have more options for individualised motion amplitudes in comparison to HB.2 Water running, offers the possibility for all the participants to regulate their individual metabolic requirement for each rhythm of exercise and could offer an effective practice for controlled physiological responses in heterogeneous groups. As HB elicits high VO2 and bLa levels, it may be an exercise indicated for athletes’ training, whereas HS and HC could be more appropriate for health and fitness purposes. References Colado JC et al. A Method for Monitoring Intensity During Aquatic Resistance Exercises. J Strength Cond Res 2008;22:2045–9 Demarie S et al. Energy Consumption of Water Running and Cycling at Four Exercise Intensities. Sports 2022;10:90