Potential Utility of a Loaded Treadmill Protocol for Tactical Athletes

Area of Science:

• Exercise Physiology
• Sports Science
• Tactical Performance

Background:

• Aerobic capacity is crucial for tactical athletes.
• Assessing aerobic capacity often involves laboratory-based V̇O2max tests.
• Tactical athletes frequently engage in load carriage, necessitating mode-specific assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the potential utility of a loaded treadmill walking protocol for assessing aerobic capacity in tactical athletes.
• To determine the reliability and correlation of a weighted treadmill protocol with a nonweighted running protocol.
• To explore the applicability of this protocol for individuals performing torso-borne load carriage.

Main Methods:

• Fifteen male participants completed weighted treadmill walking and nonweighted treadmill running protocols across four separate days.
• Reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients.
• V̇O2peak and work rate were measured for both protocols.

Main Results:

• Both weighted and nonweighted protocols demonstrated good reliability (ICC = 0.79 and 0.87, respectively).
• V̇O2peak values from the weighted and nonweighted protocols were highly correlated (r = 0.90, p < 0.01).
• While V̇O2peak was higher in the nonweighted protocol, work rates at the final attempted stage were greater in the weighted protocol.

Conclusions:

• A weighted treadmill walking protocol is a reliable and valid method for estimating aerobic capacity in tactical athletes.
• This protocol may serve as a practical alternative to traditional running tests for individuals engaged in load carriage.
• Future research should focus on optimizing weighted-walking protocols for higher resolution, particularly near volitional fatigue.