The training effects on aerobic work capacity were investigated on 14 athletes, who were middle and long distance runners of a university track team, aged 18 to 25 years. The cardio-respiratory responses to the maximum work on tread-mill and the records of 1500m and 5000m run were observed longitudinally for three years. Douglas bag method was adopted using Scholander's apparatus in order to measure the maximal oxygen uptake. Modified Filley's steady state method was used for determination of pulmonary diffusing capacity, and the cardiac output was measured by CO_2 rebreathing method. The results were summarized as follows; 1)The records of 1500m and 5000m run were improved by five to six% for all subjects after three years of training. 2)The mean value of the maximal oxygen uptake was increased from 3.93 ± 0.58 l / min to 4.04 ± 0.37 l / min after training, but this increment in maximal oxygen uptake was not statistically significant. 3) Five of 14 subjests showed significant increase in maximal oxygen uptake from 3.37 ± 0.41 l / min to 3.87 ± 0.20 l / min. This increase was due to significant increase in pulmonary ventilation, pulmonary diffusing capacity and difference in arteriovenous oxygen.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to construct a Japanese scale for rating of perceived exertion in endurance exercise. The study consisted of four experiments. Experiment 1: Twenty-one Japanese males (aged 18 to 21 years) were used as subjects in determining a Japanese rating scale of perceived exertion in endurance type of exercise. The exercise was running at three different speeds for six minutes on a treadmill (flat). Oxygen uptake during the last minute of exercise was measured by Douglas bag method with Scholander's apparatus. Heart rate from five to six minutes of exercise was counted from ECG. After some trials and errors, a 15 point graded rating scale in Japanese was determined, which was very similar to Borg's scale. Experiment 2: In order to test the validity of this Japanese rating scale, 14 Japanese males (aged 18 to 29 years), including six long distance runners, were studied in the same method as mentioned above. The correlation between RPE and relative work load (%VO_2max and %HRmax) obtained in this experiment well coincided with that reported by Skinner, et al. Experiment 3: The relationship between rating of perceived exertion and physiological indicators of exertion during running and bicycling was studied. Oxygen uptake and heart rate were measured, and rating of perceived exertion was recorded at three different work loads for 22 subjects working on treadmill and for 14 subjects working on bicycle ergometer. Correlation coefficient between RPE and relative values of VO_2 (%VO_2max) or HR (%HRmax) was higher than that between RPE and absolute values of VO_2 or HR, respectively. Experiment 4: Ten healthy males, aged 18 to 36 years, were subjected to the experiment, in which the effect of regular training upon their aerobic work capacity was investigated by use of perceived exertion as an indicator of training intensity. Training was consisted of 6-minute running, 3 days per week at intensity of RPE 15 equivalent to about 80% of each individual VO_2max. Training lasted for ten weeks. Oxygen uptake and heart rate were measured, and rating of perceived exertion was recorded at three different speeds on treadmill before and after training. Significant increase in VO_2max was observed (p < 0.05). Concomitant reductions in heart rate and rating of perceived exertion at submaximal exercise were observed after training. The relationship between RPE and running speed changed before and after training, but the relationship between RPE and heart rate, or %VO_2max remained unchanged. These results suggested that if a subject performed training at constant intensity of RPE, the absolute intensity of training might increase as his maximal capacity was improved. Consequently, RPE seems to be an effective indicator of training intensity.

View full abstract

This study was disigned to predict the one's sport aptitude on the basis of the characteristics of fundamental motor ability. The sixteen items, which were picked out of the fundamental motor ability measures, were administered to 365 excellent man athletes, who were selected from 9 sport teams of senior high school, and 50 non-athletes. And then, multivariate discriminant analysis was applied so as to formulate the prediction of one's aptitude for 9 sports. From the investigation of the validity of the formula obtained, the following results were obtained: 1) it was difficult to discriminate the one's aptitude for the ball-game sports because of the similarity in the fundamental motor ability among the athletes of these teams; 2) among the sports except ball-game sports, the one's aptitude was able to be predicted at about 60 percent level of precision.

View full abstract

Number of reports concerning the physique of the various athletes have been reported. The present study aims to clarify the interspecific allometry relation among several sports categories, because the analysis by allomorphosis has not been previously attempted. The materials Used in this study are anthropometrical data of the athletes on 15 sports categories in male and 9 sports categories in female from the Report of Physical Fitness Tests on the Representative Athletes of Japan in Universiade Sunmmer Event (1967) published by the Japanese Amateur Sports Association. In double logarithmic grid papers to indicate the allomorphosis relations, stature is taken as abscissa (x) and the other 5 items are ordinate (y). Straight relations (tribes) are drawn paralleled to the regression lines to indicate the relative variations on non-specially trained young peoples (Hattori and Sawaki, 1971). From the results indicated as the scatter diagrams on log-log papers (Figs. 1〜10), the findings are summarized as follows. In body weight, the heavier class in Judo has a tendency to be biased to the higher tribe than the lighter one. Gymnastics in both sexes locate lower tribes nevertheless they have conspicuous muscular types on physique. In sitting height, sole tribe can be identified. In chest girth, fencing, volleyball and basketball in male situated the lower tribe, on the other hand long distance run and gymnastics in male and swimming in female transit to higher tribes in comparison with the result of body weight. Swimming in both sexes show relatively (allomorphosis point of view) large forearm and small upper arm and reverse relation can be observed in tennis players.

View full abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of alcohol intake upon the reaction time (RT) and movement time (MT) of hand in man. Nine subjects (21-26 years) were asked in response to a light stimulus to move their right hands from one switch to another which were placed 30cm apart each other. Five subjects performed 105 trials and four subjects did 70 trials with and without intaking alcohol respectively; the frequency of performance was seven trials per minute with one minute rest in-between. In the experimental, the subject began to perform the trials one hour after having 2ml / kg of whisky with 43% alcohol. The results were as follows: There were large individual differences in the effect of alcohol upon RT and MT. (1) No significant differences were observed in the mean values of RT and MT between two conditions, i. e. with and without intaking alcohol. However, the subjects, who marked relatively slower performance without alcohol, tended to show reductions of RT and MT when alcohol was taken. (2) The mean value of RT with alcohol became more than 16 msec faster than that without alcohol for three subjects, whereas more than 21 msec slower for two subjects. Contrary to the general concept, the variations of RT became smaller when intoxicated with alcohol for three subjects. (3) The mean value of MT with alcohol became more than 10 msec faster than that without alcohol for five subjects, whereas more than 10 msec slower for two subjects.

View full abstract