Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the best predictor of training and/or match load using session RPE. Design and Methods: 20 NCAA DI male soccer players participated in the study during the 2014 and 2015 competitive seasons. Players completed 15.20 ± 1.05 matches for a total of 304 individual data points and 29.90 ± 1.89. training sessions for a total of 598 individual data points. GPS variables (total distance, High-intensity running distance, and Player load) were analyzed with session RPE using Pearson product-moment correlations. To evaluate various methods of session RPE, “match duration” was recorded using eight different definitions: total match duration including warm-up and half-time, total match duration and warm-up, total match duration and half-time, total match duration only, minutes played including warm-up and half-time, minutes played and warm-up, minutes played and half-time, and minutes played only. A one-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to determine if differences existed between the eight session RPE calculations. Results: Results from the ANOVA showed that all session RPE measures were significantly different from one another (P < 0.05). Very large correlations were reported between session RPE calculated using minutes played and total distance (0.81), while session RPE calculated using match duration showed less magnitude (0.57). Conclusions: Minutes played should be used to calculate session RPE as it was found to most closely reflect the actual workloads incurred during competitive matches.

The Borg Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) Scale has proven to be a highly popular instrument in measuring the subjective responses of individuals to a given work or exercise task. Historically, the instrument was designed to correlate highly with the heart rates in young-to-middle-aged men performing various tasks. The body of literature, however, has revealed inconsistencies in the extent of just how strong the relationship is between ratings of perceived exertion and various physiological criterion variables, most notably, heart rate. In addition, most studies have invoked the question of whether the criterion-related validity coefficients derived from the relationship between ratings of perceived exertion and a specified physiological criterion variable are just as valid as those for which the Borg RPE Scale was originally performed. A meta-analysis, therefore, was undertaken to determine the magnitude of the relationship between ratings of perceived exertion scores and each of three commonly used physiological measures or criterion variables: heart rate, blood lactate, and oxygen uptake. Results show that by using Tests of Homogeneity for each physiological criterion variable, the observed sample size-weighted validity coefficients are heterogeneous. The median of the mean sample size-weighted validity coefficients is .574 for heart rate, .561 for blood lactate, and .480 for oxygen uptake. Each study in the meta-analysis was grouped by the study characteristics of subject gender, fitness level, RPE Scale, exercise type, exercise protocol, and study quality. For heart rate, the highest validity coefficients are those in which the subjects are highly fit, the exercise type is fairly unusual, such as swimming, and the subjects are required to maximally exert themselves. For blood lactate, the highest validity coefficients are for females, healthy-inactive subjects, the 15-point RPE Scale, treadmill use, and swimming. For oxygen uptake, the highest validity coefficients between ratings of perceived exertion and oxygen uptake are for swimming. In a meta-analysis of study effects, when the validity coefficients are analyzed by study, the resultant mean validity coefficients are only somewhat higher (ratings of perceived exertion and heart rate, .657; ratings of perceived exertion and blood lactate, .642; ratings of perceived exertion and oxygen uptake, .609) than those obtained using sample size-weighted validity coefficients. Finally, corrections for bias generally resulted in increased validity coefficients and decreased variances.

The increased work of breathing associated with intense cycling has been identified as a factor that may negatively affect cycling performance. The aerodynamic position, abnormal respiratory mechanics either at rest or during exercise, and the development of a tachypnoeic breathing pattern are factors known to increase the work of breathing. Breathing pattern retraining aims to decrease the work of breathing by delaying the onset of dynamic hyperinflation and the recruitment of accessory breathing muscles. To date no studies have investigated the performance, physiological and perceptual consequences of manipulating breathing pattern in trained cyclists. Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of breathing pattern retraining on 20-km time trial performance and respiratory and metabolic measures in competitive cyclists. Method: Twenty-four competitive male cyclists (age 37.7 ± 8.6 years, mean ± SD; peak 4.34 ± 0.47 L·min-1) were match paired on 20-km time trial performance and assigned at random to either an intervention group (breathing pattern retraining; N = 12) or control group (N = 12). 20-km time trial performance, pulmonary function and the physiological and perceptual response during a maximal incremental cycle step test were assessed pre- and post-intervention. The intervention group underwent four weeks of specific breathing pattern retraining using exercises designed to reduce dynamic hyperinflation and optimise respiratory mechanics. The control group attended the laboratory once a week during this period and performed a 10 minute sub-maximal ride wearing a biofeedback breathing harness. The control group was led to believe the purpose for their participation was to investigate the effect that maximal exercise had on breathing pattern, and to test the reliability of the breathing harness. There was no attempt to modify the breathing pattern of the control group. Data were analysed using an MS Excel spreadsheet designed for statistical analysis. The uncertainty in the effect was expressed as 90% confidence limits and a smallest worthwhile effect of 1.0% was assumed. Results: The intervention group showed substantial improvements in 20-km time trial performance (-1.5 ± 1.1%) and incremental power (3.2 ± 3%). Additionally, breathing frequency (-13.2 ± 8.9%; -9.5 ± 8.4%), tidal volume (10.6 ± 8.5%; 9.4 ± 7.6%), inspiratory time (10.1 ± 8%; 9.4 ± 7.7%), breathing RPE (-30 ± 33.9%; -24.7 ± 28.1%) and leg RPE (-27.9 ± 38.5%; -24.7 ± 28.2%) were all positively affected at lactate threshold and lactate turn point. No positive changes were observed in the control group for 20-km time trial performance (0.0 ± 1.0%), incremental power (-1.4 ± 3.5%), breathing frequency (-1.6 ± 8.0%; -2.0 ± 7.9%), tidal volume (0.9 ± 7.2%; 2.9 ± 9.4%), breathing RPE (16.1 ± 50.2%, 24.8 ± 43%) or leg RPE (13.4 ± 39.6%; 19.9 ± 43.2%) . Conclusion: These results provide evidence of the performance enhancing effect of four weeks of breathing pattern retraining in cyclists. Furthermore, they suggest breathing pattern can be retrained to exhibit a controlled pattern, without a tachypnoeic shift, during high intensity cycling. Additionally, these results indicate breathing pattern retraining attenuates the respiratory and peripheral perceived effort during incremental exercise. Key words: Breathing pattern disorders, retraining, blood stealing, cycling, performance, power output, respiratory mechanics, perceived exertion, 20km-TT

<p>The general aim of the thesis is to answer questions on general and differential aspects of perceived exertion and on the measurement of its intensity variation. Overall perceived exertion is commonly treated as a unidemensional construct. This thesis also explores its multidimensional character. Four empirical studies are summarized (Study I-IV). Psychophysical power functions of perceived exertion obtained with the new improved Borg CR100 (centiMax) scale were found to be consistent with results obtained with absolute magnitude estimation, and with the classical Borg CR10 and RPE scales. Women gave significantly higher perceived exertion scale values than men for the same levels of workload on a bicycle ergometer. This agrees with the fact that they were physically less strong than men. With regard to the measurement of “absolute” levels of intensity, RPE- and CR-scale values were validated by physiological measurements of heart rate and blood lactate. Predicted values of maximal individual performance obtained from psychophysical functions agreed well with actual maximal performance on the bicycle ergometer. This confirms the validity of the RPE and CR scales for measuring perceptual intensity and their value for interindividual comparisons. To study the multidimensional character of perceived exertion, 18 symptoms were measured with a CR scale: in a questionnaire, and in bicycle ergometer work tests. Five factors were extracted for the questionnaire: (1) Muscles and joints; (2) Perceived exertion; (3) Annoyance/lack of motivation; (4) Head/stomach symptoms; and (5) Cardiopulmonary symptoms. Four factors were extracted for the bicycle max test: (1) Physical distress; (2) Central perceived exertion; (3) Annoyance/lack of motivation; (4) Local perceived exertion. The questionnaire is suggested for clinical use to let patients express a variety of symptoms. The thesis also resulted in improvements of the Borg CR100 scale. An extended use of the scale is recommended.</p>

The general aim of the thesis is to answer questions on general and differential aspects of perceived exertion and on the measurement of its intensity variation. Overall perceived exertion is commonly treated as a unidemensional construct. This thesis also explores its multidimensional character. Four empirical studies are summarized (Study I-IV). Psychophysical power functions of perceived exertion obtained with the new improved Borg CR100 (centiMax) scale were found to be consistent with results obtained with absolute magnitude estimation, and with the classical Borg CR10 and RPE scales. Women gave significantly higher perceived exertion scale values than men for the same levels of workload on a bicycle ergometer. This agrees with the fact that they were physically less strong than men. With regard to the measurement of “absolute” levels of intensity, RPE- and CR-scale values were validated by physiological measurements of heart rate and blood lactate. Predicted values of maximal individual performance obtained from psychophysical functions agreed well with actual maximal performance on the bicycle ergometer. This confirms the validity of the RPE and CR scales for measuring perceptual intensity and their value for interindividual comparisons. To study the multidimensional character of perceived exertion, 18 symptoms were measured with a CR scale: in a questionnaire, and in bicycle ergometer work tests. Five factors were extracted for the questionnaire: (1) Muscles and joints; (2) Perceived exertion; (3) Annoyance/lack of motivation; (4) Head/stomach symptoms; and (5) Cardiopulmonary symptoms. Four factors were extracted for the bicycle max test: (1) Physical distress; (2) Central perceived exertion; (3) Annoyance/lack of motivation; (4) Local perceived exertion. The questionnaire is suggested for clinical use to let patients express a variety of symptoms. The thesis also resulted in improvements of the Borg CR100 scale. An extended use of the scale is recommended.

The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale is a primary tool for researchers and practitioners in exercise science to describe the intensity level subjects are experiencing when participating in exercise sessions. It has recently been suggested that RPE is not simply the direct result of interpretation of physiological changes as originally postulated, but is also influenced by affect, past experience, and time to completion, a concept coined as teleoanticipation. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of teleoanticipation in a sedentary population, by examining the effect unexpected increases in exercise duration on rating of perceived exertion and affect during low intensity treadmill walking. Based on the findings of prior studies, it is expected that the unexpected duration session will elicit higher RPE values and lower affect scores as measured by the feeling scale (FS) than the expected duration session. Ten participants between the ages of 18 and 45 years participated in the study. All participants were sedentary or insufficiently active with respect to physical activity for at least six months prior to the beginning of the study. Only participants with low to moderate risk according to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines were admitted. All volunteers participated in one familiarization session followed by two trials of treadmill exercise. The familiarization trial was used to determine the treadmill speed in subsequent trials. All experimental trials were 30 minutes in length in partial accordance with ACSM guidelines, but the third trial in each group was presented as being 20 minutes and was extended to 30 minutes using a deception procedure employed in related research. Participants were informed at the 20-minute mark that the session would be extended to 30 minutes. Speed remained constant during both experimental trials. RPE and heart rate were recorded every minute to preclude volunteers from noticing the difference an increased interest in RPE responses around the 20-minute mark. Affect was measured by way of the feeling scale (FS) every other minute during the experimental trials. Blood pressure was recorded every five minutes to ensure participant safety. Results indicated a significant main effect for time for RPE (p = 0.001); however, there was no significant main effect for time and no interaction for RPE (p > 0.05) and no significant main effect and no interaction for FS. The primary finding from this investigation was that unexpected exercise durations have no affect on RPE or FS at low intensities in untrained, sedentary populations. Results suggest there may be a threshold of intensity required for a teleoanticipatory effect. More research is needed to further compare these effects with those of moderately and highly trained populations in medium or high intensity situations.

The growing public health burden associated with insufficient physical activity has resulted in the development of numerous health initiatives and products aimed at stabilizing and reversing the negative trends reported in epidemiological literature. A relatively novel product that has only recently made its way to the market are wearable weights. These products are designed to be worn on the lower legs and arms along with regular clothing as a means to increase caloric expenditure. However, no research to date has tested the efficacy of this product. PURPOSE: Compare psychological responses within bouts of aerobic exercise that vary on intensity and the presence of wearable weights. METHODS: Seventeen (11 female, 6 male, mean age = 24 years, mean BMI = 25.0 ) healthy volunteers were tested for aerobic fitness on a treadmill to determine VO2 max (mean = 44 ml x kg-1 x min-1). Participants then completed eight 30-minute walking trials on a treadmill while three ratings of perceived exertion (RPE - overall, RPE - chest and breathing, and RPE - legs ) were monitored while walking at different speeds and with varying combination of upper and lower body wearable weights. The design included two intensities (slow walking and brisk walking) and four conditions (no weights, arm weights, leg weights, and arm and leg weights) for a total of eight experimental trials. RESULTS: Data were analyzed using ANOVA and pairwise comparisons. Analyses revealed RPE overall was significantly elevated (P < 0.05), as was RPE of the legs (p < 0.05) while wearing upper and lower weights in the brisk walk trial but not in the slow walk trial. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that exercising while using wearable weights increases RPE for the legs and overall only during the faster walking trials. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: This finding suggests that physical activity associated with daily living could be enhanced through the wearing of weights that can be worn under clothing without increasing perceptions of effort. In contrast, findings relative to brisk walking suggest that any beneficial increase in energy expenditure is potentially offset by significantly increased effort.

Yearly, 22, 200 Canadians are diagnosed with lung cancer, with 80-85% of the cases being non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). With diagnoses being predominantly in the advanced stages, prognosis is poor and quality of life (QoL) becomes the focus of treatment. The main symptom cachexia, issues a loss of strength and impacts on an important aspect of QoL, physical function. Physical function is predominately assessed subjectively. Lately performance-based measures are gaining in popularity. One performance measure, the chair rise test, has not been validated in the NSCLC population and was the objective of this study. / Subjects completed the chair rise test, 6MWT, hand grip, and the SF-36 pre and post chemotherapy. Evidence for construct and discriminant validity but not predictive validity was provided for the chair rise test. The 60-second chair rise may be too strenuous for persons with severe disability but a standardized timed-based chair rise test is needed.

Sports video games should be inherently competitive, but they fall short in providing competition between player skills. The translation of real-world physical activities to a game controller and the emphasis on statistical simulations in traditional sports video games leads to a limited opportunity for expertise development, individual differentiation, and fatigue. These are three very important aspects of real-world sports that are lacking in sports video games. One possible solution to these difficulties is to use small-scale exertion. This method requires the design of an input mechanic that requires only the use of hands and fingers (or feet). We created two small-scale exertion sports video games (Track and Field Racing and Jelly Polo) and ran four studies to compare our small-scale exertion games to traditional rate-based sports video games. Qualitative and quantitative results suggest that using small-scale exertion increases the amount of expertise development, individual differentiation, and fatigue in sports video games. Results also suggest small-scale exertion controls are more engaging than traditional rate-based controls. By using small-scale exertion to add physicality into sports video games, we are able to increase richness, competitiveness, and realism in order to create a game which is competitive, in terms of player skill, and sport-like.

Evaluation of inner/intra-systemic concatenations is becoming more popular. The application of complex systems theories for differently trained people may boost the knowledge about the intersystem concatenations and may provide more information about functional state and perceived exertion. The aim of the research: To evaluate the connection between cardiovascular system’s functional parameters and perceived exertion during rest, physical task and recovery. Objectives of the study: 1. To assess perceived exertion during bicycle ergometer test. 2. To determine cardiovascular system‘s functional parameters of differently trained subjects during different test performance stages: rest, load and recovery. 3. To find out the correlations between perceived exertion and functional parameters of cardiovascular system during rest, load and recovery. Contingent and methods: We had 57 young volunteers aged (22.75 ± 0,4 year) participating in this study. We divided participants according the trained feature in 4 groups: endurance (n=12, 23±0.35 year), endurance-celerity group (n=16, 20.5±0.55 year), strength group (n=10, 24.3±0.53 year) and non-active group (n=19, 23.21±2.22 year). Methods: Endurance group went through constant load until volitional exhaustion. Celerity-endurance, strength and non-active groups went through incremental loading where the increase was made every minute by 50 W. The perceived exertion was measured every 15 seconds with Borg (RPE6-20) scale. Ongoing... [to full text] / Populiarėjant sistemų sąveikų analizei, daugiau dėmesio skiriama sąsajų tarp skirtingų sistemų nustatymui bei vertinimui. Kompleksinių sistemų teorijos pritaikymas skirtingai adaptuotiems asmenims gali suteikti daugiau informacijos apie jų funkcinį pajėgumą bei suvokiamas pastangas. Darbo tikslas: Įvertinti suvokiamų pastangų ir širdies ir kraujagyslių sistemos funkcinių rodiklių ramybės, fizinio krūvio ir atsigavimo metu. Tyrimo uždaviniai: 1. Nustatyti suvokiamas pastangas atliekant veloergonometrinį testą. 2. Nustatyti širdies kraujagyslių sistemos funkcinių rodiklių kitimą ramybės, fizinio krūvio ir atsigavimo metu tarp skirtingo kryptingumo fiziškai adaptuotų vyrų. 3. Nustatyti koreliacijas tarp suvokiamų pastangų ir širdies kraujagyslių sistemos funkcinių rodiklių ramybės, fizinio krūvio ir atsigavimo metu. Tiriamųjų kontingentas: Tiriamųjų kontingentą sudarė 57 jauno amžiaus vyrai, kurių amžiaus vidurkis tyrimo pradžioje buvo 22,75 ± 0,41 metai. Tiriamieji buvo suskirstyti į keturias grupes pagal treniruojamą fizinę ypatybę: ištvermės grupė (n=12, amžius 23±0,35metai), greičio-ištvermės grupė (n=16, amžius 20,5±0,55 metai), jėgos grupė (n=10, amžius 24,3±0,53 metai) ir nesportuojančiųjų grupė (n=19, amžius 23,21±2,22 metai). Tyrime taikyti metodai: Ištvermės grupė atliko ištvermės mėginį, važiuodami pastoviu krūviu (W) iki išsekimo, greičio-ištvermės, nesportuojančiųjų bei jėgos grupės atliko pakopomis didėjančio fizinio krūvio mėginį, kur apkrova buvo keičiama kas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]