Upper and Lower Body Anaerobic Power: Comparison Between Biathletes and Control Subjects

Abstract

This study compared power outputs (PO) from both the upper body (UB) and lower body (LB) Wingate tests of anaerobic power between biathletes and control subjects. Ten biathletes (B) selected by the British Ski Federation for potential assignment to the British team and 13 control (C) subjects cranked or pedaled the same Bodyguard orgometer at maximal RPMs for 30 s against resistances of 2.94 and 4.41 J/rev/kg body weight (BW), respectively. POs were calculated in watts (W) and expressed as peak power (PP, highest 5-s interval), mean power (MP, the mean for 30 s), and power decrease (PD, difference between PP and lowest 5-s PO divided by time). Absolute PP and MP for both UB and LB did not differ between groups. A comparison of POs made relative to BW showed B to have higher values than C: 11.25 vs 10.25 W/kg for LB PP (P < .05) and 9.21 vs 7.96 W/kg for LB MP (P < .001). The data expressed relative to kg fat free mass (FFM) showed only MP to be significantly greater in B compared with C (P < .001). Similar PO relationships were found for the UB where PP (P < .01) and MP (P < .001) expressed per kg BW and MP (P < .001) expressed per kg FFM were higher for ? than C. Concomitantly, PD was lower in B than C for both the UB (P < .05) and LB (P < .01). These data show that significant differences exist in the anaerobic performance of aerobically trained athletes compared with subjects who are not highly trained and that these differences are reflected in the musculature of the UB as well as the legs.

Key words

anaerobic power - Wingate test - biathlete - aerobic power