Impact of body posture on pulmonary diffusing capacity at rest and during exercise in endurance-trained and untrained individuals.

Endurance-trained athletes exhibit greater diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) at rest and during exercise as compared to untrained individuals; however, the mechanism(s) are unclear. The supine position translocates blood centrally and can be used to investigate DLCO responses independent of metabolic rate. We hypothesized that endurance-trained individuals would have a greater DLCO response to postural change at rest as compared to untrained and that the supine position would elicit a greater DLCO response as compared to the upright position during exercise in both groups.

Physiological responses to treadmill exercise in size- and fitness-matched male and female firefighter applicants.

Physiological responses during a standardised treadmill test for structural firefighting employment were compared in 41 pairs of size-matched, male and female applicants. Applicants wore personal exercise clothing, running shoes, and fire protective ensemble with self-contained breathing apparatus (added mass 21.2 ± 1.

The Validity and Reliability of a Treadmill Test for Structural Firefighter Applicants.

Objective: This 2-part study evaluated validity and reliability of a treadmill test for structural firefighters.

Methods: Wearing fire protective ensemble, 260 participants walked at 1.56 m·s-1, completing a 5-min warm-up, an 8-min stage at a 5.

The effect of general duty police ensemble on graded exercise and simulated work performance.

This 2-part study examined the impact of general duty police ensemble on selected cardiopulmonary responses during incremental treadmill exercise and on simulated work performance in 25 healthy young male and female participants. Part I comprised randomly ordered treadmill tests in 2 experimental conditions: physical training (PT; undergarments, shorts, t-shirt, and running shoes) and police duty ensemble (PDE; undergarments, body armour, patrol uniform, boots, duty belt with required equipment, radio, and weapons). The PDE added 10.

Ventilatory responses in males and females during graded exercise with and without thoracic load carriage.

Purpose And Methods: To compare the effects of thoracic load carriage on the ventilatory and perceptual responses to graded exercise, 14 pairs of height-matched, physically active males and females completed randomly ordered modified Balke treadmill exercise tests with and without a correctly sized and fitted 20.4 kg backpack and work clothing. Subjects walked at 1.

Influence of work clothing on physiological responses and performance during treadmill exercise and the Wildland Firefighter Pack Test.

This study investigated physiological responses and performance during three separate exercise challenges (Parts I, II, and III) with wildland firefighting work clothing ensemble (boots and coveralls) and a 20.4 kg backpack in four conditions: U-EX (no pack, exercise clothing); L-EX (pack, exercise clothing); U-W (no pack, work clothing); and, L-W (pack and work clothing). Part I consisted of randomly-ordered graded exercise tests, on separate days, in U-EX, L-EX and L-W conditions.

The impact of thoracic load carriage up to 45 kg on the cardiopulmonary response to exercise.

Purpose: The purposes of this experiment were to, first, document the effect of 45-kg thoracic loading on peak exercise responses and, second, the effects of systematic increases in thoracic load on physiological responses to submaximal treadmill walking at a standardized speed and grade.

Methods: On separate days, 19 males (age 27 ± 5 years, height 180.0 ± 7.