Validade preditiva da medida e estimativas do VO2máx no desempenho de mountain bikers

Abstract

Introduction: considering the rationale for the use of predictive equations to estimate VO2max in athletes, no study has established its validity for performance in mountain bike cross-country (XCO). Objective: the aim was to compare different strategies for determining VO2max, directly or indirectly, for predicting performance in a simulated and in a real competition. Methods: 20 XCO male athletes (31.6 ± 6.8 anos; 68.1 ± 6.5 kg; 175.5 ± 5.7cm; VO2max 64.9 ± 4.4 mL. kg-1.min-1), were submitted to three experimental sessions. In the first visit, there were risk stratification, anthropometric evaluation and maximum progressive test. In the second, a simulated race was performed and, in the third session, a XCO competition was performed. Results: the correlation between the simulated competition and the predictive equations of VO2max in absolute values reached an almost perfect relationship (r ≥ 0.9). The correlations between the real competition and estimated VO2max relativized to body mass achieved results classified as very high (r = 0.7 to .89). The associations between the direct measurement of VO2max and the simulation were classified as small for values relative to body mass (r = 0.10, CI95% -0.35 to 0.51). For the actual performance, the classification was moderate (r = 0.48, CI95% 0.009 to 0.78). Conclusion: this study was the first to demonstrate the predictive validity of the estimates of VO2max for the simulated and real MT B performance. In addition, it confirmed the low predictive validity of direct measurement of VO2max for the same purpose.