Term of Award

Spring 2020

Degree Name

Master of Science in Kinesiology (M.S.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Health Sciences and Kinesiology

Committee Chair

Bridget Melton

Committee Member 1

Ronald Snarr

Committee Member 2

Greg Ryan

Abstract

Circuit training (CT) incorporates short rest periods and may be used to replicate the fireground suppression tasks (FST) performed by firefighters. PURPOSE: To compare the cardio-metabolic and perceived demands of task-specific CT to FST. METHODS: Twenty-three career, structural firefighters volunteered to perform three testing days (i.e., FST, CT, and CTW). FST consisted of performing seven common occupational tasks in full gear (~22.5kg). The weighted (CTW: 18.9kg vest) and unweighted (CT) circuit utilized seven exercises designed to mimic the FST’s. Measurements included relative heart rate (%HRmax), post-training blood lactate (Lapost), change in pre- to post-training countermovement jump (ΔCMJ), dominant and non-dominant handgrip strength (ΔDHG and ΔNDHG), training time, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) using a 0-10 scale, and job-specific rating of relevance (1 = “not relevant” and 5 = “very relevant). A repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), with Bonferroni post-hoc, was performed for each variable, excluding RPE and rating of relevance. Friedman’s ANOVA was used to assess differences in RPE and rating of relevance, with Wilcoxen Signed Rank tests follow-up. RESULTS: Significant mean differences were found in %HRmax between CT and FST (~8.6%, pd=1.12) and CTW and FST (~5.3%, pd=0.75), ΔCMJ between CT and FST (pd=1.35) and CTW and FST (pd=1.09), ΔNDHG between CTW and FST (p=0.01, d=0.79), training time between CT and FST (pd=1.00) and CTW and FST (pd=1.81), and rating of relevance between CT and FST (PSdep=0.67). CONCLUSIONS: CT and CTW were able to elicit similar metabolic and perceived demands as FST, while producing a lower cardiovascular response. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: CT may be a beneficial training tool for firefighters, although it cannot replicate FST.

OCLC Number

1157285632

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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