VO2 Max of CSUSM Students vs.

Professional Surfers

Bianca A. Bristol, Heather N. Furr, Gavin M. Palma, Casey Polk

Department of Kinesiology, California State University, San Marcos, CA, 92096
Abstract
Subject Characteristics
Background: Surfing has become an increasingly popular sport enjoyed by Results
people everywhere. Although the majority of people who surf do so as a
recreational activity, primarily for fun, it is considered an intermittent, high
performance sport requiring both endurance and power. In order to be a Age Height (in.) Weight Sex
successful surfer high levels of aerobic fitness are necessary. Purpose: The (yrs.) (lbs.)
purpose of this experiment is to investigate the impact of paddling of CSUSM
students to that of professional surfers based on historical data. Because VO Subject 1 25 70 166 M
max is attained by secondary criteria including HR, RER, and RPE alongside
VO plateau; a hypothesis has been made that the trained professional surfers Subject 2 23 71 168 M
will be able to withstand a higher workload and thus a higher VO2 max
compared to untrained CSUSM students. Methods: A total of 4 male CSUSM
students, during incremental exercise testing in the flume, used a Polar RCX5
Subject 3 22 69 168 M
heart rate monitor to measure HR and a metabolic cart that was calibrated to
meausre gas exchange during rest and during exercise. Exercise ensued for 8-12 Subject 4 38 74 217 M
minutes until the subjects fatigued. Results: Professional surfers from four
previous surf studies, had a higher average peak VO2 than untrained CSUSM Average 27 71 179.75 n/a
students in the current study.Conclusion: Subjects who are trained in the activity
(surfing) that is being tested, are able to obtain a higher peak VO2. SE 7.438638 2.160247 24.851224

Background Table 1: CSUSM VO2 surf study subject characteristics.

Historical data suggests that surfers posses a high level of aerobic fitness. Upper-body ergometry
indicates that peak oxygen uptake values measured in surfers are consistently higher than values
Conclusions
reported for untrained subjects (Mendez-Villanueva, 2005). The average peak VO2 of CSUSM students participating in the VO2 test
Surfers spend between 45% and 50% of their total time paddling and between 35% and 40% of their
total time stationary. The rest of the time is shared among miscellaneous activities for paddling was lower than thosefrom previous studies who are trained
Figure 1: Average peak VO2 of CSUSM students and professional
(Mendez-Villanueva, 2005). or surf professionally. (Figure 1).
Surfing is considered an intermittent, high performance sport requiring both endurance paddling and trained surfers from the Farley, Lowdown, and Mendez studies.
bouts of explosive paddling in order to catch a wave. Surfers are required to paddle out through the The RER is high (>1) among the CSUSM students participating in the a
breaking waves to the take-off zone which can take up to 10 minutes of strenuous work (Farley et al., VO2 test at their peak,indicating that the amount of CO2 released was
2012).
Heart rate measurements during surfing practice have shown an average intensity between 75% and greater than the O2 that was being consumed. There is also a linear
85% of the mean heart rate values ( Mendez-Villanueva, 2005). relationship between VO2 and RER, which helped determine where the
CSUSM students were near exaustion (Figure 2).
Purpose The average max heart rate of CSUSM student subjects during paddling,
The purpose of this experiment is to compare VO2 max of CSUSM students to that of professional didnt vary from the max heart rate of the trained surfers from previous
surfers based on historical data. VO2 max is attained by secondary criteria including HR, RER, and studies. It can be concluded that professional surfers were able to produce
RPE along with peak VO2 . A hypothesis has been made that trained professional surfers will be
able to paddle at a higher workload and therefore will have a higher VO2 max in comparison to a higher average VO2 peak than CSUSM students, at similar max heart
untrained CSUSM students. rate (Figure 3).
References
Subjects Methods
1. Farley, O., Harris, N., & Kilding, A.(2012) Anaerobic and Aerobis
Four male CSUSM college students participated in this maximal oxygen uptake study. Fitness Profiling of Competitive Surfers. Journal of Strength and
Age of particpants ranged from 22 to 38 years.
Prior to all trials, each subject prepared for incremental exercise testing in the flume on a surfboard. Conditioning Research, 10: 2243-2248.
2. Loveless, D and Minahan, C. (2010) Peak Aerobic Power and
Protocol
Paddling Efficiency in Recreational and Competitive Junior Male
Before any trial, all subjects adjusted themselves to the water and practiced paddling in the water for roughly two minutes on a Surfers. Euro J Sport Sci, 10(6), 407415.
surfboard. 3. Lowdon BJ, Bedi JF, Horvath SM. (1989) Specificity of aerobic
The metabolic cart was calibrated for each subject, and resting gas exchange data was obtained. Then incremental exercise continued for
8-12 minutes until students fatigued. fitness testing of surfers. Aust J Sci Med Sport, 21: 7-10.
Amid exercise, 15 seconds of gas exchange data was collected by the metabolic cart.
Data was downloaded onto a computer after the experiment (with the exception of 1 CSUSM students HR). Watts were recorded
4. Mendez-Villanueva, A., Perez-Landaluce, J, Bishop, D,
digitally and entered into the spreadsheet after the experiment. Fernandez-Garca, B, Ortolano, R, Leibar, X, & Terrados, N. (2005).
Figure 2: The linear relationship between VO2 and RER of untrained Upper body aerobic fitness comparison between two groups of
Measurements
CSUSM student subjects during paddling. competitive surfboard riders. Journal of Science and Medicine in
Figure 3: Average max heart rate of CSUSM student subjects compared to the
VO2(ml/kg/m) and RER were measured with the metabolic cart. average max heart rate of pro surfers from previous studies. Sport, 8(1), 43-51.
HR was measured with a Polar RCX5 HR monitor.
A bar graph was generated to compare average VO2 peak between CSUSM students and professional surfers from previous studies.
5. Mendez-Villanueva, A.,& Bishop, D. (2005). Physiological Aspects
A linear graph was generated and determined a positive linear relationship between VO2 and RER of CSUSM subjects throughout the of Surfboard Riding Performance. Sports Medicine, 35(1), 55-70.
paddling experiment.
Through the making of a bar graph average Heart Rate was compared between CSUSM students and professional surfers from prior
studies.