Specificity of Training as Indicated by Heart-Rate Response to Exercise

Abstract

Heart rates of 30 male Ss were monitored prior to, during, and in recovery from a standard treadmill walk. 10 Ss were trained distance runners and were considered trained in the specific work studied. 10 Ss were conditioned swimmers but were doing a type of work for which they were not trained. The runners had significantly better mean endurance times (time to heart rates 110, 130, 150, and 170) than the swimmers, even though both had previously undergone extensive endurance training. The swimmers did not perform significantly better than a group of nontrained Ss except to heart rate 130. In recovery to heart rate 130, there was no significant difference among the means of the three groups. The only significant difference among group means to final recovery heart rate was between the runners and the nontrained group.