The oxygen uptake-heart rate relationship in trained female wheelchair athletes

We examined the relationship between the percentage of peak heart rate (HR) and the percentage of peak oxygen uptake VO2 during steady-rate incremental wheelchair propulsion in 10 trained female wheelchair athletes (WAs) to determine the appropriateness of using American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) target HRs for training prescription. Oxygen uptake was calculated during each submaximal exercise stage, and HR was monitored continuously. Peak VO2 was determined with the use of a separate protocol. Linear regression equations of percentage of peak HR versus percentage of peak VO2 were measured for each participant. Subsequently, we calculated the percentage of peak HR values corresponding with 40%, 60%, 80%, and 85% peak VO2. The linear regression formula (derived as the group mean of the slope and intercept terms determined from each individual participant) was % peak HR = 0.652 x % peak VO2 + 35.2 (standard error of the estimate [SEE] 3.41). The group mean of the individual correlation coefficients for the VO2-HR relationship was r = 0.973. The percentage peaks of HRs for the WAs were slightly, though not significantly, greater than those suggested by the ACSM across the exercise intensity continuum. These findings suggest that training programs prescribed on the basis of ACSM target HR guidelines need not be altered for trained female WAs with lesions of T6 and below. Notably, the discrepancy between the WA values and the population norm (ACSM) decreased from 6% at 40% peak VO2 (i.e., 61% vs. 55%) to <1% at 85% peak VO2 (i.e., 90.6% vs. 90.0%). This discrepancy indicates a tendency for the use of percentage of HR peak at the lower exercise intensities to slightly underestimate the relative exercise intensity (i.e., percentage of peak VO2) in the WA population.