Cardiorespiratory Responses to a 20-Minutes Shallow Water Tabata-Style Workout

The purpose of this study was to examine physiological responses to a 20-min Tabata-style shallow water exercise workout (TS-SWE). Volunteers (n = 9, females) had recently participated in an experiment (Experiment I) that measured, in part, peak oxygen uptake and heart rate (VO2 and HR) during SWE (D’Acquisto, Miller, D’Acquisto, Roemer, & Fisher, 2015). Peak VO2 and HR were used in the current study to compute relative physiological responses (e.g., %VO2 and %HR peak) to TS-SWE. VO2, HR, rating of perceived exertion (RPE; Borg 6–20 scale), and blood lactate were measured during a TS-SWE. TS-SWE consisted of 4 × 4 min bouts (20-s maximal efforts followed by 10 s of rest for each bout; 1 min rest between bouts). TS-SWE elicited cardiorespiratory and psychophysical responses (RPE) classified as vigorous to “near-maximal to maximal intensity” according to the American College of Sports Medicine’s guidelines for exercise prescription, suggesting that a TS-SWE workout imposes a substantial physiological load on the human body