Effect of the Canadian Air Force training programme on a submaximal exercise test

Validation of the submaximal heart rate/oxygen consumption relationship as an index of 'cardiorespiratory fitness' requires the demonstration of systematic alterations in this relationship concomitant with interventions designed to alter physical fitness. To fulfil those criteria a longitudinal training/de-training study was undertaken. Previously sedentary adult subjects undertook the Canadian Airforce 5BX-XBX exercise programme. Submaximal exercise tests were performed before and after training, and following several weeks cessation of training. A regression line of submaximal heart rate on submaximal oxygen consumption was calculated from the data of each submaximal exercise test. Alterations in the regression lines were examined for each subject individually by testing statistically for difference in slope and elevation between any pair of lines. Subjects who undertook the training/de-training study demonstrated significant systematic alterations in the elevation of the regression lines concomitant with periods of training and de-training. The reproducibility of the submaximal heart rate/oxygen consumption relationship was examined in two additional groups of subjects. Group A repeated a submaximal test on 3 or 4 successive days; Group B were tested before and after 16 weeks of normal activity. Subjects in Group A demonstrated non significant, random alterations in the regression lines on repeated testing and subjects in Group B demonstrated random, though on occasion significant, alterations in the regression lines. The elevation of the submaximal heart rate/oxygen consumption relationship is therefore a valid index for detecting sequential changes in 'cardiorespiratory fitness' in individual subjects.