Reliability o Invasive and Non-Invasive Anaerobic Threshold Estimation in Young Swimmers

Authors attempted to confront two methods of anaerobic threshold (AT) estimation in swimmers: lactic invasive Dmax (Cheng et al. 1992) and non-invasive ventilation Vslope method (Beaver et al. 1986) modified by authors. The research was conducted on two groups of swimmers (I – 16,4±0,7 years and II – 14±0,8 years) each consisting of 12 subjects. During the testing cycloergometer exercise, the workload was increased every 3 min. by 30 W. The experimental design allowed for the determination ATs simultaneously with two methods. In both groups the level of lactic threshold was higher than the Vslope (p=0.001). High correlation coefficients were estimated between lactic thresholds in blood (LA) and workload (WL) in both methods (r=0.84–0.91; p=0.001). Workload at the Dmax threshold correlated stronger with VO2 max & (r=0.80, p=0.001), than WL at Vslope threshold (r=0.67, p=0.001).