Acute Cardiometabolic Responses to Medicine Ball Exercise in Children: 2174 Board #10 June 1 9 30 AM - 11 00 AM

Medicine ball (MB) exercises are effective for strength and conditioning in adults, but the cardiometabolic demand of this training modality for children is unknown. PURPOSE: To examine the acute cardiometabolic responses to MB exercise in children. METHODS: 14 children (10.1 ± 1.3 yr) were tested for peak oxygen uptake (VO2) on a treadmill and subsequently (> 48 hours later) performed a progressive 10 min MB protocol of 5 exercises (EX): standing marches (EX1), alternating lunges (EX2), squat swings (EX3), chest passes (EX4) and double arm slams (EX5). A 2.3 kg MB was used for all trials and each MB exercise was performed twice for 30 sec with a 30 sec rest interval between sets and exercises. Participants exercised while wearing a heart rate (HR) monitor and connected to a metabolic system. Comparisons between exercises were made using one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. RESULTS: Peak values for HR and VO2 during the treadmill test were 198.9 ± 8.3 bpm and 54.9 ± 10.1 ml [BULLET OPERATOR] kg-1 [BULLET OPERATOR] min-1, respectively. During the MB protocol, mean HR significantly (p<0.05) increased from 121.5 ± 12.3 bpm during EX1 to 178.3 ± 9.4 bpm during EX5 and mean VO2 significantly (p<0.05) increased from 15.5 ± 2.9 ml [BULLET OPERATOR] kg-1[BULLET OPERATOR]min-1during EX1 to 34.9 ± 5.1 ml [BULLET OPERATOR] kg-1 [BULLET OPERATOR] min-1during EX5. Mean HR and VO values during the MB protocol ranged from 61.1% to 89.6% and 28.2% to 63.5% of HRpeak and VO2peak, respectively. CONCLUSION: These descriptive data indicate that MB exercise can pose a moderate-to- vigorous cardiometabolic stimulus in children and may serve as a worthwhile compliment to youth strength and conditioning programs.