Deep Water Running Physiologic Responses: Gender Differences at Treadmill-Matched Walking/Running Cadences

This study differentiated by gender the physiologic responses to deep water running (DWR) and compared them to treadmill running (TM) at matched running cadences (RC) in 24 young adults (12 M, 12 F). DWR consisted of tethered subjects progressively increasing RC until they could no longer perform DWR at the desired cadence. At that point &OV0312;O2, peak was recorded. The TM test involved TM speeds matched to DWR RC for each stage. Once the last DWR RC was reached, TM grade was increased 5% every 2 min until &OV0312;O2, max. Statistical analyses employed multiple linear regression with dummy coded discrete variables. Full and restricted models tested for main effects and interactions. Significant gender differences averaged across all stages of DWR were evident for &OV0312;E,&OV0312;O2 L·min−1 and &OV0312;O2 ml · kg−1 · min−1, but not for HR, &OV0312;O2 ml · kgLBM−1 · min−1, or RER. There were no significant gender differences during TM. Significant DWR vs TM differences averaged across all stages were evident for HR, &OV0312;E,&OV0312;O2 L · min−1, &OV0312;O2 ml · kg−1 · min−1, &OV0312;O2 ml · kgLBM−1 · min−1 and RER. These data suggest that women perform DWR with less physiologic stress than men and that, compared with TM at matched RC, physiologic responses during DWR are significantly greater.