Psycho-Physical Effects of Varied Rest Intervals Following Warm-Up

This study assessed the effects of varied rest intervals following a five-minute warm-up upon subsequent ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), heart rate (HR), and state anxiety during an exercise period. The subjects were 16 male college students. Each subject was tested under four experimental conditions following a five-minute warm-up on a bicycle ergometer at 75 percent of maximum heart rate (HRmax). Rest intervals of one minute, five minutes, 10 minutes, and no rest preceded a progressively increasing eight-minute exercise period on a bicycle ergometer. Ratings of RPE, HR, and state anxiety were obtained at 1000, 1200, 1400, and 1600 kilopond-meters (KPM) per minute during each of the experimental conditions. An analysis of variance, four by four by four factorial design with repeated measures on both factors were used to determine if significant differences existed in state anxiety levels between the experimental conditions. Intraclass correlation coefficients revealed that the reliability for HR and RPE was extremely high. It was found that no significant difference existed between the four experimental conditions for perceived exertion, heart rate, and state anxiety. RPE was found to be a good predictor of physiological strain as indicated by HR. (Author/SK)