Comparsions among VO2 max values for hockey players and runners

This study was designed to investigate the specificity of the VO2 max response of runners and hockey players for multistage tests done on the treadmill (RUN) or on the ice, skating a shuttle 20m course with (20m+) or without equipment (20m-) and a 140m oval course (140m-). Hockey players VO2 max in ml.kg-1.min-1 (n=10) were similar for the 4 tests (RUN: X +/- SD = 61.4 +/- 6.3; 140m-: 62.1 +/- 9.4; 20m-: 58.6 +/- 6.4; and 20m+: 59.9 +/- 7.4). VO2 max of runners (n = 10) were superior on the treadmill (68.6 +/- 4.5) as compared to the ice (140m-: 65.6 +/- 5.4). Hockey players as compared to runners, were 15% more efficient on the ice and 7.9% less efficient on the treadmill. The equipment increased the energy cost of skating by 4.8% and decreased the multistage test time by 20.3%. The low temperature arena as compared to the standard temperature laboratory, yielded lower heart rate response with multistage tests. Blood lactates (mg%) were similar for all tests done with hockey players (RUN: 128.3 +/- 19.3; 140m-: 126.8 +/- 14.7; 20m-: 133.0 +/- 17.5; and 20m+: 131.4 +/- 18.5), but lower on the ice (140m-: 87.7 +/- 15.9) as compared to the treadmill (127.2 +/- 26.4) for the runners. Maximal skating speed disclosed a relatively homogenous group of hockey players but their VO2 max scores were more widely distributed.