Comparison of cardiopulmonary responses to two types of dry-land upper-body exercise testing modes in competitive swimmers

In this study we compared cardiopulmonary responses to upper-body exercise in 12 swimmers, using simulation of the front-crawl arm-pulling action on a computer-interfaced isokinetic swim bench and arm cranking on a modified cycle ergometer. Subjects adopted a prone posture; exercise was initially set at 20?W and subsequently increased by 10?W?·?min^?1. The tests were performed in a randomised order at the same time of day, within 72?h. The highest (peak) oxygen consumption (V˙O_2peak), heart rate (HR_peak), blood lactate ([la^?]_peak) and exercise intensity (EI_peak) were recorded at exhaustion. Mean (SEM) peak responses to simulated swimming were higher than those to arm cranking for V˙O_2peak [2.9 (0.2) vs 2.4 (0.1) l?·?min^?1; P?=?0.01], HR_peak [174 (2) vs 161 (2) beats?·?min^?1; P?=?0.03], and EI_peak [122 (6) vs 102 (5) W; P?=?0.02]. However, there were no significant differences in [la^?]_peak [9.6 (0.6) vs 8.2 (0.6) mmol?·?l^?1; P?=?0.08]. Thus simulated swimming is the preferred form of dry-land ergometry for the assessment of swimmers.