A new proposed incremental surfing paddle test to assess aerobic fitness in surfers

Abstract

The aim of this study were: 1) to analyse heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (La) responses during a protocol of intermittent surfing paddle on board; 2) to correlate the aerobic capacity and power indexes determined from this specific protocol with the experience in surfing practice and anthropometric variables. Participated in the study nine subjects (24 ± 4.5 years; 72.2 ± 6.7 kg; 178.4 ± 4.8 cm) were submitted to an intermittent incremental shuttle paddle test on the surfboard, with initial velocity between 1 to 1.1 m/s and increments from 0.05 m/s for each 3 min until volitional exhaustion. During the incremental protocol, linear and exponential responses were observed for HR and La, respectively. These responses were similar to those demonstrated during incremental protocols in cyclic exercise modes aiming to assess the aerobic power and capacity. They were found significant correlations between the peak velocity (PV) and velocity at the Onset Blood Lactate Accumulation (vOBLA) (r = 0.87) and between the PV and experience in surfing practice (r = 0.7). However, they were found no significant correlations between PV and vOBLA with anthropometrics variables and weekly training volume. Thus, we conclude that the specific protocol of intermittent surfing paddle could be a useful tool to determine indices related with aerobic power (PV) and capacity (OBLA) of surfers.