Assessment of aerobic capacity through blood and ventilatory responses in four different ergometers

The objective of the study was to compare intensities of respiratory compensation point (RCP),anaerobic threshold at onset blood lactate accumulation (OBLA3,5), and anaerobic threshold at lactate abrupt increase (AnTLAC) determined in four different ergometers. Hence, eleven table tennis players (19±1 years) performed graded exercise tests on cycle ergometer, arm cranking ergometer, treadmill and specific table tennis test. The respiratory response and lactatemia were measured during the tests. We did not find significant diferences among RCP, AnTLAC and OBLA3,5 in arm cranking ergometer (63.4±4.8W, 66.9±4.5W and 64.5±6.1W, respectively), treadmill (11.4±0.4 km.h-1, 11.3±0.3 km.h-1 and 11.1±0.3 km.h-1, respectively), and specific table tennis test (40.5±1.8 bolas.min-1, 42.6±3.6bolas.min-1 and 42.8±5.6bolas.min-1,respectively). However, the OBLA 3,5 (131.9±6.6W) was significantly lower than RCP (149.3±4.9W) and AnTLAC (149.3±4.7W) in the cycle ergometer. Strong and significant correlation coefficients were found in the specific test for all methods (r range 0.83 to 0.95), in arm cranking ergometer between RCP and OBLA 3,5 (r=0.78), and on treadmill running between OBLA3,5 and AnTLAC (r=0.76).Therefore, we conclude that RCP, OBLA3,5 and AnTLAC seem to correspond to the same physiological phenomenon, mostly during specific table tennis test.