Effect of body composition on aerobic capacity of animals submitted to swimming exercise

Abstract

The aim of this study was to verify the influence of body composition on the CAER of animals submitted to different types of physical training. Twenty-three Wistar rats were divided into groups according to the training protocol: control (CTLE); aerobic training (TAE); anaerobic training (TAN); and concurrent physical training (TCc). The critical load test (CC) was carried out for determining the anaerobic threshold at the beginning and end of the training period. TAE was composed of swimming exercise with intensity corresponding to 70% of the anaerobic threshold; TAN was composed of water jumps with overload of 50% of the body weight of each animal; and TCc was composed of a combination of aerobic and anaerobic protocols described above. After four weeks of training, the weight of epididymal adipose tissue and soleus, plantar and gastrocnemius muscles was collected and measured. Dispersion analysis was used to draw graphics and analysis of the simple linear regression model was performed to identify the influence of each variable on CAER. Body Fat demonstrated positive influence of 5% on the relationship with the Anaerobic Threshold. Soleus and gastrocnemius muscles showed negative influence of 13.1% and 37.0%, respectively. The plantaris muscle showed no influence on the Anaerobic Threshold. Body composition influenced the CAER of the animals analyzed. Moreover, it was verified that body fat favored floatability, while higher muscle mass impaired it.