Summary
The purpose of this study was to determine oxygen uptake\(\dot V\)O2) at various water flow rates and maximal oxygen uptake (\(\dot V\)O2max) during swimming in a hypobaric hypoxic environment. Seven trained swimmers swam in normal [N; 751 mmHg (100.1 kPa)] and hypobaric hypoxic [H; 601 mmHg (80.27 kPa)] environments in a chamber where atmospheric pressure could be regulated. Water flow rate started at 0.80 m · s−1 and was increased by 0.05 m· s−1 every 2 min up to 1.00 m · s−1 and then by 0.05 m · s−1 every minute until exhaustion. At submaximal water flow rates, carbon dioxide production (\(\dot V\)CO2), pulmonary ventilation (\(\dot V\) E) and tidal volume (V T) were significantly greater in H than in N. There were no significant differences in the response of submaximal\(\dot V\)O2, heart rate (f c) or respiratory frequency (f R) between N and H. Maximal\(\dot V\) E,f R,V T,f c blood lactate concentration and water flow rate were not significantly different between N and H. However,\(\dot V\)VO2max under H [3.65 (SD 0.11) l · min−1] was significantly lower by 12.0% (SD 3.4) % than that in N [4.15 (SD 0.18) l · min−1] . This decrease agrees well with previous investigations that have studied centrally limited exercise, such as running and cycling, under similar levels of hypoxia.
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Ogita, F., Tabata, I. Oxygen uptake during swimming in a hypobaric hypoxic environment. Europ. J. Appl. Physiol. 65, 192–196 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705080
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00705080