OMNI and Borg scales for the prescription of cycle ergometer exercise.

Resumen

The Borg and OMNI scales of perceived exertion have been widely validated for the identification of exercise intensity. The objective of this study was to test the agreement between the categories of the Borg (6-20) and OMNI-Cycle scales for the prescription of cycle ergometer exercise and to propose a new conversion table. Twenty-six male indoor cyclists (17-41 years) pedalled for 3 min at six self-selected increasing loads. These loads corresponded to categories 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 of the Borg scale in one session, and to categories 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10 of the OMNI scale in the other session. At the end of each stage, heart rate (HR) and power (W) were recorded. Pearson’s correlation coefficient between scales was calculated. Agreement between the categories of the scales was tested by ANOVA for repeated measures, followed by the Tukey test (p < 0.05). The correlation between the two scales was high (r = 0.87, p < 0.05). Significant difference between the two scales was observed for HR in the first three categories. W differed significantly only in the first two categories. The conversion tested showed a significant correlation. However, there were significant differences in HR in the first three categories and in W in the first two. The following agreement is proposed: Borg 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19 corresponding to OMNI 2, 4, 7, 8, and 10.