Aquatic exercise sessions are becoming increasingly diversified due to the use of apparatus appropriate to aquatic environment. However, few studies analyzed the influence of the use of such apparatus in the cardiorespiratory responses. The purpose was to analyze the heart rate, oxygen consumption and the rating of perceived exertion of effort in women during an aquatic exercise performed in different situations with and without resistive equipment, AquafinsTM. Eleven women performed the cross country skiing exercise with horizontal shoulder flexion and extension in four situations: without resistive equipment (NO-FINS), with Aquafins on the lower limbs (FINS-LLs), with Aquafins on the upper limbs (FINS-ULs) and with Aquafins on the lower and upper limbs (FINS-LLs/ULs). In each situation HR, VO2 and SSE were verified. For data analysis, ANOVA for repeated measures were used, with the Bonferroni post-hoc test (p < 0.05). When compared to the other situations, HR was significantly higher with the FINS-LLs/ULs (159 ± 12 bpm) and FINS-LLs (147 ± 18 bpm). However, the FINS-LLs situation exhibited a similar HR to that of FINS-ULs (148 ± 16 bpm). In turn, the three situations with Aquafins were different from the NO-FINS (131 ± 14 bpm) situation. In the case of VO2, there was a significant difference between the FINS-LLs/ULs (22.77 ± 3.58 ml.kg-1.min-1) situation and the other situations. The FINS-ULs (19.67 ± 4.29 ml.kg-1.min-1) and FINS-LLs (20.38 ± 3.99 ml.kg-1.min-1) situations exhibited significantly higher VO2 levels than NO-FINS (15.18 ± 4.67 ml.kg-1.min-1). The RPE was significantly greater in the FINS-LLs/ULs (16 ± 1.55) situation when compared to FINS-LLs (14 ± 0.9) and NO-FINS (13±1.29), though there was no difference from the FINS-ULs (14 ± 1.57) situation. Therefore, the use of equipments that promote resistence to the movement in aquatic exercise is recommended to improvement in the cardiorespiratory system.
heart rate; oxygen consumption; perceived exertion; resistive apparatus
