Comparison Of Hr And Rpe Responses In Test And Competition Context Of 12 Yrs Aged Boys

Introduction
RPE - the ratings of perceived exertion as psychological indice of physical effort have usually been studied in
laboratory context [2,3]. The purpose of this study was to compare RPE in two activities of different duration which
were performed in competition setting. To get this the Borg CR - 10 scale [1] together with HR monitoring was applyed
during wrestling competition and endurance run test.

Methods
Forty one boys mean age 11.7 participated in this study. On the first part of the experiment the boys were participated in
wrestling competition. Through the rooles the fight was limited only on floor fight because of possibility of injury and
carried out in two round of 90 seconds with 30 seconds pause between rounds. Running test was performed two weeks
later. Children had to run for 6 minutes in an attempt to make as greater distance as possible, measured in meters. Both
the RPE and the HR were assessed on the end of the fight relatively on the end of each minute of running. HR was
measured with Polar HR monitors while the RPE was obtained through Borg CR-10 scale. RPE after fight was assessed
by asking the child standardized question while during the running child have to shout or showing with fingers number
of the scale corresponding to his effort. A big copy of the scale was positioned on thepoint near measurer throughout
running or kept in the sight after fight. Data were analyzed with Statistica 6.0.

Results
The mean (± SD) age, height, weight and BMI for the children were: 11.7 ± 0.8 yr, 151.2 ± 8.9 cm, 44.2 ± 12.2 kg, 19.1
± 3.8. Mean HR for running ranged from 184 bpm (± 12) in 1. min up to 195 (± 8) bpm in 6. min. The wrestling HR
was 149 (± 12) after 1. round and 155 (± 19) after 2. round. The comparation’s of psychological responses on effort are
listed in Table 1. Mean values of running RPE ranged from 5.34 (SD 0.79) in first min. of running up to 8.27 (SD 0.63)
in sixth min. of running, this numerical category’s coresponds with verbal descriptors "strong" ("heavy") relatively
"very strong" ("very heavy"). Mean values for wrestling were lower and ranged from 4.71 (SD 0.72) to 6.27 (SD 1.14)
which coresponds with "somewhat strong" namely, "strong". Although the differences in RPE were pretty obvious,
they were compared by using an t-test for independent samples. Almost all RPE responses between running and
wrestling differed significantly. All running RPE indices were significantly higher (p > .001) than RPE response after 1.
round of fight. After 2. round, or 3 minute wrestling all together, RPE at wrestling became significantly higher than
RPE at 1. minute of running (t = -4.27, p >. 001). There was no significant difference between RPE at 2. and 3. minute
of running and RPE at 2. round of wrestling and finally there were significant diferrences in favour of running between
RPE at 5. (t = 5.73, p >. 001) and 6. (t = 9.81, p >. 001) minute of running and 2. round wrestling RPE.

Discussion / Conclusions
The study showed that RPE was comparatively stable corresponding strongly to the HR on high exercise intensities.
With respect to exercise durations, it seems that activities with longer durations provoking stronger responses on
embedded effort than short durations activities [3]. In contrary of previous research [4] RPE was affected with exercise
modality and clearly with duration of effort. In summary RPE was significantly higher (p > .001) in running and
increased more over time than in wrestling. RPE mean values at six minute of running corresponded with verbal
descriptors "heavy" and "very heavy", while 3 minute wrestling was characterized as "somewhat strong" or "strong".
Although there are some methodological differences between this and some previous research, presented results
acknowledge findings [2, 3] that children of this age can discriminate intensity of exercise and on that basis self regulate
them. Follow-on research should explore more exertion ratings on field test and/or competition settings.

References
[1]. Baumgartner, T. A., Strong, C.H. (1998). Measurement for Evaluation in Ph. Ed. and Exerc. Sc. McGraw-Hill, NY.
[2]. Robertson, R. et al., (2002). Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., 34, no7, 1168-75.
[3]. Mahon, A.D. et al., (2001). Pediatric Exercise Science. 13, 145-153.
[4]. Robertson, R. et al., (2001). Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., 33, no11, 1946-52.

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