title: Incremental exercise test for the evaluation of peak oxygen consumption in paralympic swimmers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) is a fundamental parameter used to evaluate physical capacity. The objective of this study was to explore two types of incremental exercise tests used to determine VO2peak in four Paralympic swimmers: arm ergometer testing in the laboratory and testing in the swimming pool.
  
  
  METHODS
  On two different days, the VO2peak values of the four athletes were measured in a swimming pool and by a cycle ergometer. The protocols identified the VO2peak by progressive loading until the volitional exhaustion maximum was reached. The results were analyzed using the paired Student's t-test, Cohen's d effect sizes and a linear regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that the VO2peak values obtained using the swimming pool protocol were higher (P=0.02) than those obtained by the arm ergometer (45.8±19.2 vs. 30.4±15.5; P=0.02), with a large effect size (d=3.20). When analyzing swimmers 1, 2, 3 and 4 individually, differences of 22.4%, 33.8%, 60.1% and 27.1% were observed, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Field tests similar to the competitive setting are a more accurate way to determine the aerobic capacity of Paralympic swimmers. This approach provides more sensitive data that enable better direction of training, consequently facilitating improved performance.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Braxil, 2 Departamento de Esportes, da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais e do Centro de Estudos em Psicobiologia e Exercício - CEPE, São Paulo, Brazil, 3 University of Campinas, Limeira, SP, Brazil - tmello@demello.net.br.
authors.forename: Helton
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: DA Silva Alves
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: Andressa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Esteves
authors.forename: Paulo A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Schwingel
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vital
authors.forename: Edilson A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: DA Rocha
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Fabio S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Lira
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tufik
authors.forename: Marco T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: DE Mello
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D001938:Brazil; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D016552:Ergometry; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005221:Fatigue; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D013550:Swimming; D013551:Swimming Pools; D055815:Young Adult