EFFECTS OF THE "LEG HARNASS" AND SLIDE BOARD EXERCISE ON VO2 MAX AND LACTATE CONCENTRATION

668 This project tested the hypothesis that slide board exercise with the leg harness(LH) will increase maximal oxygen uptake (VO2) and lactate concentration (LAC) and decrease total time to exhaustion (TTE) of untrained subjects. The slide board is a widely used closed kinetic chain rehabilitation modality. The LH is a device designed to increase mechanical work, increase energy cost and decrease exercise time. Subjects were 8 males and 8 females, ages 18 to 33 yrs. The protocol included 1-2 practice session(s) and 2 data collection sessions separated by 7 to 14 days and administered in a counter-balanced order with LH (EXP) and without LH (CON). The tests were continuous graded maximal protocols consisting of 2 min. stages graded via increasing cadence from 46 to 90 slides per min. Three, 2 × 2 ANOVA with repeated measures (p<.05) were used to examine the effects of gender on VO2, LAC, and TTE. Results revealed significant decreases in VO2 (EXP=37.7±6.2, CON=39.3±6.2 ml/kg/min), and LAC (EXP=9.1±2.4, CON=10.1±2.5 mM) when subjects wore the LH, regardless of gender. Males had significantly greater LAC (11.5 mM) than females (7.8 mM), regardless of condition. No significant differences in TTE were revealed in either gender, or in either condition (EXP=10.5±3.4, CON=11.4±3.3 min). These results indicate that use of the LH would not decrease the exercise time requirement. The decrease in VO2 and LAC indicates that the work performed when using the LH may have negatively affected subjects' ability to exercise efficiently.