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The effect of different crank lengths and crank widths on maximal hand cycling power, cadence and handle speed were determined. Crank lengths and crank widths were adapted to anthropometric data of the participants as the ratio to forward reach (FR) and shoulder breadth (SB), respectively. 25 able-bodied subjects performed maximal inertial load hand cycle ergometry using crank lengths of 19, 22.5 and 26% of FR and 72, 85 and 98% of SB. Maximum power ranged from 754 (246) W for the crank geometry short wide (crank length x crank width) to 873 (293) W for the combination long middle. Every crank length differed significantly (P < 0.05) from each other, whereas no significant effect of crank width to maximum power output was revealed. Optimal cadence decreased significantly (P < 0.001) with increasing crank length from 124.8 (0.9) rpm for the short to 107.5 (1.6) rpm for the long cranks, whereas optimal handle speed increased significantly (P < 0.001) with increasing crank length from 1.81 (0.01) m/s for the short to 2.13 (0.03) m/s for the long cranks. Crank width did neither influence optimal cadence nor optimal handle speed significantly. From the results of this study, for maximum hand cycling power, a crank length to FR ratio of 26% for a crank width to SB ratio of 85% is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of age and gender on the energy cost of front-crawl swimming (Cs). Thirty well-trained swimmers (10 boys, 5 girls, 10 men and 5 women) volunteered to perform a 200 m front-crawl test at a standardized velocity (V). Body length (BL), body mass (BM) and body surface area (BSA) were measured. Oxygen consumption (VO(2)) was measured using the Douglas bag method and the Cs was calculated as the ratio VO(2)/V. BM, BL, and BSA were identified as good predictors of Cs. By using allometric modeling, common body size exponents for BM, BL, and BSA were 0.40, 1.30, and 0.61, respectively. When scaling for BM, BM(0.40), BL, BL(1.30), BSA, and BSA(0.61), the Cs was not significantly different among the different swimmers groups. In conclusion, in well-trained swimmers, the size-scaled cost of swimming is not dependent on age and gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total net metabolic power output (E, kW) required to scull a traditional, flat hull boat--the "Bissa", 9.02 m long and weighting about 500 kg including the crew-was assessed at different constant speeds (nu) ranging from 2.44 to 3.75 m s(-1). E increased with the speed: E = 0.417 x e (0.664v ); r (2) = 0.931. The amount of metabolic energy spent per unit distance (C, J m(-1)) to move the "Bissa", calculated by dividing E by the corresponding nu, was a linear function of nu: C = 0.369 nu -0.063; r (2) = 0.821. The hydrodynamic resistance met by the boat in the water--drag (D, N)--was estimated by analysing the decay of the reciprocal of nu as a function of time measured during several spontaneous deceleration tests carried out in still water and by knowing the total mass of the watercraft plus crew. D increased as a square function of speed: D = 12.76 v (2). This allowed us to calculate the drag efficiency (g(d)), as the ratio of D to C: g(d) increased from 8.9 to 13.7% in the range of the speeds tested. The "Bissa" turned out to be as economical as other flat hull, traditional watercrafts, such as the bigger Venetian gondola, and her g(d) was similar to that of other modern and traditional watercrafts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Basal metabolic rate is scaled to body mass to the power of 0.73, and we evaluated whether a similar scaling applies when the O2 transport capacity of the body is challenged during maximal exercise (i.e. at maximal O2 uptake, VO2max). The allometric relationship between VO2max and body mass (y=a · xb, where y is VO2max and x is body mass) was developed for 967 athletes representing 25 different sports, with up to 157 participants in each sport. With an increasing number of observations, the exponent approached 0.73, while for ventilation the exponent was only 0.55. By using the 0.73 exponent for VO2max, the highest value [mean (SD)] for the males was obtained for the runners and cyclists [234 (16) ml · kg-0.73 · min-1], and for the females the highest value was found for the runners [189 (14) ml · kg-0.73 · min-1]. For the females, aerobic power was about 80% of the value achieved by the males. Scaling may help both in understanding variation in aerobic power and in defining the physiological limitations of work capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]