Estimating peak oxygen uptake based on postexercise measurements in swimming

To assess the validity of postexercise measurements in estimating maximal oxygen uptake (V’O2peak) in swimming, we compared V’O2 measurements during supramaximal exercise with various commonly adopted methods, including a recently developed heart rate (HR)-V’O2 modelling procedure. 31 elite swimmers performed a 200-m maximal swim where V’O2 was measured breath-by-breath using a portable gas analyser connected to a respiratory snorkel, 1 min before, during, and 3 min postexercise. V’O2peak(-20–0) was the average of the last 20 s of effort. The following postexercise measures were compared: 1) first 20-s average [V’O2peak(0–20)]; 2) linear backward extrapolation (BE) of the first 20 s [BE(20)], 30 s, and 2x20-, 3x20- and 3- or 4x20-s averages; 3) semilogarithmic BE at 20 s [LOG(20)] and at the other same time intervals as in linear BE; and 4) predicted V’O2peak using mathematical modelling [pV’O2(0–20)]. RM-ANOVA and post-hoc Bonferroni tests compared V’O2peak (criterion) and each estimated value. Pearson’s coefficient of determination (rThe accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author