VO2max, ventilatory and anaerobic thresholds in rhythmic gymnasts and young female dancers

Background. This study examines the fitness level of a rhythmic gymnasts group and a young female classical dancers group. Methods. Aerobic power (V̇O2max), individual ventilatory (IVT) and anaerobic thresholds (IAT) were assessed in 12 elite rhythmic gymnasts, eight elite ballet dancers and 12 sedentary female subjects in the same age range (13-16 yrs). The V̇O2max, IVT and TAT were assessed during a continuous incremental running treadmill test. Results. At IVT and IAT the V̇O2max expressed in ml·kg-1·min-1 was significantly different between the three groups of subjects. The highest values were found in gymnasts (30.8±2.6 for IVT and 43.8±3.5 for IAT) followed by the values of dancers (21.7±2.8 for IVT and 30.5±3.1 for IAT) and controls (15.6±2.0 for IVT and 20.6±1.7 for IAT). When the V̇O2max was expressed in percent of V̇O2max, the values at IAT were significantly different between all groups (gymnasts: 84.9±0.7; dancers: 64.0±4.1; controls: 59.7±2.4) while at IVT no difference was found between dancers and controls (45.6±4.1 and 45.2±16, respectively). At maximal effort V̇O2 was significantly higher both in gymnasts and dancers (51.7±4.4 and 47.5±3.0 ml·kg-1·min-1, respectively), than in controls (34.5±2.5 ml·kg-1·min-1). Conclusions. Although V̇O2max was similar between gymnasts and dancers, V̇O2 values at NT and IAT were able to discriminate the higher level of fitness in gymnasts with respect to dancers.