MSc student Kevin Belanger and several other HALOites (Peter Breithaupt, Dr. Zach Ferraro, Jane Rutherford, Dr. Stasia Hadjiyannakis, Dr. Rachel Colley, Dr. Kristi Adamo) authored a paper titled, “Do Obese Children Perceive Submaximal and Maximal Exertion Differently?,” that was recently published in Clinical Medicine Insights: Pediatrics. Citation details, a summary of the paper and a link to a pdf version of the paper are below.
Kevin Belanger, Peter Breithaupt, Zachary M. Ferraro, Nick Barrowman, Jane Rutherford, Stasia Hadjiyannakis, Rachel C. Colley, Kristi B. Adamo. Do Obese Children Perceive Submaximal and Maximal Exertion Differently? Clinical Medicine Insights: Pediatrics 2013:7 35-40.
ABSTRACT: We examined how obese children perceive a maximal cardiorespiratory fitness test compared with a submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness test. Twenty-one obese children (body mass index ≥95th percentile, ages 10–17 years) completed maximal and submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness tests on 2 separate occasions. Oxygen consumption (VO2) and overall perceived exertion (Borg 15-category scale) were measured in both fitness tests. At comparable workloads, perceived exertion was rated significantly higher (P < 0.001) in the submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness test compared with the maximal cardiorespiratory fitness test. The submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness test was significantly longer than the maximal test (14:21 ± 04:04 seconds vs. 12:48 ± 03:27 seconds, P < 0.001). Our data indicate that at the same relative intensity, obese children report comparable or even higher perceived exertion during submaximal fitness testing than during maximal fitness testing. Perceived exertion in a sample of children and youth with obesity may be influenced by test duration and protocol design.
Click here to download a pdf version of the paper.
