Exercise Physiology Final Lab

7/30/2019 Exercise Physiology Final Lab

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Comparison of Caloric Expenditure Between Rower

Ergometer and Cycle Ergometer

Ryan Cormier, Lee Maniff, David Ciampittiello, Colin

McFadden

Exercise Science Department

May 11th 2012



Introduction

Obesity is defined as having too much body fat. i Ten years ago, according to

the body mass index (BMI), there were no states reported with an obesity

prevalence of 30% or more. Today more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are

obese.ii One of the largest concerns with obesity is that it is directly linked with

multiple health risks. Some of the health risks associated with obesity are coronary

heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer, stroke, respiratory problems

and in females infertility.iii Studies have shown a decreased risk of mortality from

complications of obesity with an increase of physical activity.iv

There are many factors correlated with obesity in adults. A few factors

include caloric intake, caloric storage, and caloric expenditure.v Caloric intake refers

to the amount of Calories that an individual consumes. Caloric storage refers to the

amount of Calories that are stored in the human body. Caloric expenditure refers to

how many Calories an individual uses. There are three factors that affect caloric

expenditure: Basal/Resting metabolic rate, thermogenesis, and work/exercise

metabolism.vi All three elements are influenced by genetic and environmental

factors. Although genetic factors contribute to weight gain and potentially obesity,

environmental factors are thought to be the biggest and most controllable

contributor. The sedentary lifestyle is one of the biggest factors linked to obesity.

This is why aerobic exercise is such an important aspect of fighting obesity.

Increasing aerobic exercise is a great way to increase daily caloric expenditure and

over time promote weight loss. Some common aerobic exercises that overweight



populations can perform are walking, swimming, cycling and rowing. In this study,

two forms of exercise were chosen to investigate, cycling and indoor rowing. Both

exercises are non-weight bearing, easily accessible in most gyms, and require little

experience to perform.

The rower ergometer is an exercise machine that replicates outdoor rowing.

This exercise utilizes a large amount of the muscle in the human body. Some of these

muscle groups include legs, gluteals, back, arms and your core.vii The cycle

ergometer is an exercise machine used to simulate the act of cycling. It isolates the

lower extremity, legs and gluteals, during exercise.viii

Rowing and cycling performance has been researched extensively in the past.

One main area of research regarding rowing and cycling is the topic of efficiency and

energy expenditure. In general, researchers have looked for ways to increase cycling

and rowing performance by finding ways to decrease energy expenditure and

increase efficiency.

Many factors have been researched regarding ways to increase rowing

efficiency. One 2009 study showed that some of the biggest aspects involved in

rowing efficiently are setup and technique.ix Strength and power production as well

as body structure have been shown to play a big factor in performance in rowing

and cycling. Being taller and leaner can be a big advantage when it comes to rowing.x

A factor researched that may be highly involved in cycling efficiency is the



prevalence of type 1 muscle fibers in the legs.xi It is assumed that increasing

efficiency would allow for more work to be done with lesser amount of energy

expenditured. Several studies have been done on rowing where elite rowers were

compared to non-rowers to see differences between the groups. There seems to be

adaptations coming from sport specific training that allow proficient rowers to

become more efficient with the same statement being true for cyclists as well.xii xiii xiv

Although much of the research involving rower and cycle ergometers are

geared towards performance, there is some research investigating the differences

between rowing and cycling. One study on the subject looked at female masters

level recreational level rowers and the physiological responses they experienced

during maximal cycling and rowing. The results of this study showed that cycling

and rowing produce very similar max VO2, minute ventilation, max heart rate, and

blood lactate under maximal exercise conditions in this population xv. Since this was

done under maximal conditions to exhaustion, it still leaves the question of what

different physiological responses cycling and rowing might produce under

submaximal conditions. One such study was done in which many physiological

measurements were taken during submaximal cycling and rowing with the

main focus of the study being on energy expenditure. The test showed VO2 and

heart rate were significantly higher at all power increments during the rowing

graded exercise test. This lead those researchers to believe that energy costs for

rowing ergometry were significantly higher than cycle ergometry at all comparative

power outputs including maximal levels.xvi



These studies demonstrate certain areas in the relevant research that are

very strong as well as areas that are lacking. Since the topic of performance in

rowing and cycling, in regards to efficiency, have been investigated so thoroughly it

may be more beneficial to focus on unanswered questions. Other than a study

performed energy expenditure in 1988, the research is limited in regards to

comparing the rower and cycle ergometers. It may be beneficial to do a study where

energy expenditure was given the operational definition, “amount of Calories

burned during exercise”, since in this day and age energy is usually t hought of in

terms of Calories. A possible limitation that has been brought up through a review of

relevant literature could be that studying a population of highly experienced rowers

and cyclers with increased performance efficiency coming from training could alter

their specific energy expenditures.

This particular study was conducted to determine which modality would

expend more Calories at the same workload, the rower ergometer or a cycle

ergometer. The study also examined which exercise was perceived to be easier and

elicited a higher heart rate. If the study determined that one exercise burned more

Calories than the other, and was perceived to be easier, it would be more likely that

an individual would utilize the exercise for weight loss. The hypothesis for this

study was that the rower ergometer would elicit higher energy expenditure at any

given workload when compared to the cycle ergometer. Our reasoning behind the

hypothesis regarding a higher caloric expenditure being elicited in the rower during



equal workloads was that the rower activates more muscle groups.xvii It was also

hypothesized that heart rate would be higher on the rower at any given workload

compared to the cycle ergometer. It was believed the heart rate response might be

higher in the rower because of the upper-body exercises may be caused by

increased sympathetic nervous system stimulation.xviii

Methods

Concept2 Rower

First the subject was fitted with a heart rate monitor and a corresponding

heart rate watch. The metabolic cart was calibrated according to laboratory

standards. Headgear and mouth apparatus were secured to the subject. The subject

was given a brief tutorial on how to properly perform the rowing machine. The

subject then adjusted the foot placement and straps. The damper was set to five to

keep tests consistent across subjects. The rower ergometer was set with a timer of

two minutes and at the end of the test, the machine calculated the subject’s average

wattage. The subject was asked to perform the exercise at a submaximal pace that if

asked to, could be maintained for five to ten minutes. Before the test commenced,

the subject did not perform a warm-up period. The data collected in the test

included VO2 (L/min), VCO2 (L/min), RER and heart rate (bpm) at each thirty-

second interval by the metabolic cart.



Wattage Bike

The subject was given at least fifteen minutes of recovery. Before exercise

commenced, the subject returned to resting heart rate. The subject was again

equipped with the heart rate monitor and the corresponding heart rate watch. The

metabolic cart was recalibrated according to laboratory standards. Headgear and

mouth apparatus were secured to the subject. The seat of the cycle ergometer was

adjusted to the height of the subject, so that the subject’s leg was almost fully

extended at the bottom of the revolution. The average wattage performed on the

rower ergometer was used for the wattage on the cycle ergometer. The subject was

informed to cycle between 40-80 rpms at the given wattage for two minutes. Before

the test was performed, there was no warm-up period. The data collected in the test

included VO2 (L/min), VCO2 (L/min), RER and heart rate (bpm) at each thirty-

second interval by the metabolic cart.

Calculations

Caloric Expenditure per thirty-second interval was calculated based on the

following formula:

(VO2 * Caloric Equivalent)/2 =

Caloric Equivalent was acquired from a RER Caloric Equivalent chart. RER was

obtained from the metabolic cart. Data was calculated in thirty-second intervals to

determine how many Calories were burned in two minutes. The total Calories of the

rower ergometer and the cycle ergometer were compared against each other to

conclude which exercise burned the most Calories.



Results:

*Total Calories expended for each subject across two minutes

Table 1: The above data is comprised of the mean of all thirty-second intervals for

the entire two-minute trial for all subjects. The rower produced higher results in all

areas tested compared to the cycle.

Figure 1: All six subjects expended more Calories on the rower as opposed to the

cycle at the same workload.

Rower Ergometer Cycle Ergometer

Mean Total Calories Expended * 21.63583333 18.52833333

Mean VO2 2.22 1.93Mean RER 0.88 0.79

Mean Heart Rate 141.75 133.38



Figure 2: Mean Calories expended at each thirty-second interval are higher using

the rower compared to using the watt bike.

Figure 3: Mean oxygen consumption at each thirty-second interval was greater

using the rower than cycle.



Figure 4: Mean RER at each thirty-second interval was higher during the rower

than the cycle.

Figure 5: Mean heart rate at each thirty-second interval was higher during the

rower than cycle.



Discussion

The purpose of this study was to determine which modality would yield a

higher caloric expenditure at the same workload, the rower ergometer or the cycle

ergometer. It was hypothesized that at the given workload, each subject would yield

a higher caloric expenditure using the rower ergometer. Figure 1 represents all

subject after two minutes on both exercise modalities. The data shows that all

subjects expended, on average, 21.6 Calories using the rower ergometer. However,

at the same workload, all subjects expended on average 18.5 Calories using the cycle

ergometer. At this rate if the subject maintained the same pace for an extended

period of time, the difference would be much larger. For example after an hour of

exercise, there would be a difference of 93 Calories. In regards to weight loss, the

caloric balance equation (CBE) is used to calculate caloric expenditure against

caloric intake. The CBE states that if more Calories are expended than Calories

ingested, the body will use stored Calories to fuel the energy requirements. One

pound of stored fat is equivalent to 3500 Calories. Although each thirty-seconds of

exercise between the two modalities yielded only a difference 0.775 Calories, Figure

2 shows the linear increase at each interval. Figure 2 and Figure 3 show a positive

correlation that oxygen consumption is closely related to caloric expenditure.

Caloric expenditure is calculated using oxygen consumed (L*min-1) multiplied by

the caloric equivalent (Calorie*L-1O2) pertaining to the individuals Respiratory

Exchange Rate (RER). RER is the ratio of carbon dioxide (VCO2) produced divided by

oxygen consumed (VO2). The amount of oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide

produced depends on the fuel source being utilized, either fats or carbohydrates,

due to the different chemical compositions of the fuels. An RER value of 0.70



indicates a reliance of 100% fat utilization, while an RER value of 1.0 indicates

100% reliance of carbohydrates. As RER shifts between 0.70 and 1.0, a mixture of fat

and carbohydrates are utilized.xix As Figure 4 shows, at each thirty-seconds of

exercise on the rower ergometer, each subject relied more on carbohydrates, RER of

0.88 which implies 59.2% carbs; 40.8% fats, as the fuel source because they are

more readily available. The cycle ergometer remained using fat as the primary

source of fuel with an average RER of 0.79, which implies 28.6% carbs and 71.45

fats.

Figure 5 represents the mean heart rate at each thirty-second interval. It

was hypothesized that at the same workload the rower ergometer would cause

heart rate to be higher. Table 1 shows the rower ergometer yielded, on average, a

heart rate of 141.75 beats per minute. The mean heart rate while on the cycle

ergometer for the test was 133.38 beats per minute. The physiological response to

heart rate is thought to reflect a greater sympathetic stimulation.

One study was done in which many physiological measurements were taken

during submaximal cycling and rowing with the main focus of the study being on

energy expenditure. The study performed in 1988 closely resembled this particular

study right down to the results. The test showed VO2 and heart rate were

significantly higher at all power increments during the rowing graded exercise test.

This lead those researchers to believe that energy costs for rowing ergometry were

significantly higher than cycle ergometry at all comparative power outputs

including maximal levels.xx This previous study used a sample population of 60 men



and 47 women ranging from age 20-74. Our study used five men and one female

between the ages of 19 and 22. Both studies used the cycle ergometer as well as the

rower ergometer, however the test from 1988 used graded exercise when our study

focused on submaximal two minutes of exercise. Although there was variation

between sample sizes, the same results occurred regarding energy expenditure, that

the rower ergometer had higher energy expenditure. Some potential limitations

regarding this study included sample size and time frame in which data was needed

to be collected. A source of error regarding the rower ergometer was that wattage

was an average across two minutes whereas on the cycle ergometer the wattage

was maintained. The subject’s were not monitored in their prior meal, which could

have caused an increased heart rate before testing. Inadequate sleep before testing

can cause an error in the data as well. Possible future studies should examine caloric

expenditure regarding cycle and rower ergometers in a larger and more diverse

sample size, over different time durations, at different workload intensities, and

possibly comparing other modalities.

Following results of the study performed, it is confirmed that the rower

ergometer not only expends more Calories at a given workload but also yields a

higher oxygen consumption, RER and heart rate. From these findings, the general

public would be able to apply the benefits of the rower ergometer and also cycle

ergometer. As stated, this study was designed to determine which modality would

expend more Calories at the same workload, but be perceived to be easier.

Therefore the rower ergometer was determined to be the choice exercise



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Exercise Physiology Final Lab