Abstract
Purpose
In sky- and trail-running competitions, many athletes use poles. The aims of this study were to investigate whether the use of poles affects the force exerted on the ground at the feet (Ffoot), cardiorespiratory variables and maximal performance during uphill walking.
Methods
Fifteen male trail runners completed four testing sessions on different days. On the first two days, they performed two incremental uphill treadmill walking tests to exhaustion with (PWincr) and without poles (Wincr). On the following days, they performed submaximal and maximal tests with (PW80 and PWmax) and without (W80 and Wmax) poles on an outdoor trail course. We measured cardiorespiratory parameters, the rating of perceived exertion, the axial poling force and Ffoot.
Results
When walking on the treadmill, we found that poles reduced maximum Ffoot (− 2.8 ± 6.4%, p = 0.03) and average Ffoot (− 2.4 ± 3.3%, p = 0.0089). However, when outdoors, we found pole effect only for average Ffoot (p = 0.0051), which was lower when walking with poles (− 2.6 ± 3.9%, p = 0.0306 during submaximal trial and − 5.21 ± 5.51%, p = 0.0096 during maximal trial). We found no effects of poles on cardiorespiratory parameters across all tested conditions. Performance was faster in PWmax than in Wmax (+ 2.5 ± 3.4%, p = 0.025).
Conclusion
The use of poles reduces the foot force both on the treadmill and outdoors at submaximal and maximal intensities. It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that the use of poles “saves the legs” during uphill without affecting the metabolic cost.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, NG, upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- BLC:
-
Blood lactate concentration
- fDF:
-
Foot duty factor
- Ffoot:
-
Foot force
- Fpole:
-
Poling force
- ΔFfoot:
-
Difference in Ffoot between PWincr and Wincr
- GET:
-
Gas exchange threshold
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- ITRA:
-
International trail running association
- NW:
-
Nordic walking
- pDF:
-
Pole duty factor
- PW:
-
Pole walking
- PW80 :
-
Pole walking at 80% of RCP
- PWincr :
-
Pole walking incremental treadmill test
- RCP:
-
Respiratory compensation point
- RPE:
-
Rating of perceived exertion
- Tcfoot:
-
Foot contact phase
- Tcpole:
-
Poling phase time
- Tfoot:
-
Foot cycle time
- Tpole:
-
Pole cycle time
- \(\dot{\text{V}}_{{\text{E}}}\) :
-
Volumetric flow rate of expired air
- \({\dot{\text{V}}\text{CO}}_{{2}}\) :
-
Rate of carbon dioxide production
- \({\dot{\text{V}}\text{O}}_{{2}}\) :
-
Rate of oxygen uptake rate
- vvert :
-
Vertical velocity
- W:
-
Walking
- W80 :
-
Walking at 80% of RCP
- Wincr :
-
Walking incremental treadmill test
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge all the participants and the running clubs who were involved in this project. We thank all the sport science students who participated in the measurements. We thank Comune di Gemona, Comune di Paluzza, Dellacher Sportsverein and FH Kärnten for supporting this project.
Funding
This project was supported by the Interreg V-A Italia-Austria—CLLD, project code ITAT4460-P.
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Communicated by Jean-René Lacour.
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Giovanelli, N., Pellegrini, B., Bortolan, L. et al. Do poles really “save the legs” during uphill pole walking at different intensities?. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 2803–2812 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05254-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05254-9