Physiological and perceptual responses to walking while swinging hand-held towels.

The intent of this investigation was to determine the intensity of cardiovascular exercise produced by walking while swinging hand-held towels and its potential as a training method. Sixteen healthy college students were the volunteer subjects in this experiment. Each subject performed five randomly ordered trials in which they walked with: (1) a normal arm swing (NAS); (2) a vigorous arm swing (VAS); (3) a vigorous arm swing with hand-held towels (VAST); (4) a vigorous arm swing at NAS heart rate (VNH); and (5) a vigorous arm swing with hand-held towels at NAS heart rate (VTNH). Treadmill speed was 89 m.min-1 for VTNH, 103 for VNH, and 119 for NAS, VAS, and VAST trials. Each trial lasted 6 min and was separated by a 2 min walking recovery. Statistical analysis revealed (p < 0.05) that oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were significantly greater for the VAST (27.8 +/- 3.9 ml.kg-1.min-1, 152 +/- 13.8 bpm, 4.2 +/- 1.4 Borg) vs. NAS (21.0 +/- 3.4, 125 +/- 14.7, 2.6 +/- 1.0) and VAS (24.7 +/- 3.7, 139 +/- 14.1, 3.4 +/- 1.1) vs. NAS trials, but were similar for NAS, VNH, and VTNH. Although not statistically significantly different, VO2, HR, and RPE were physiologically greater for the VAST than VAS trial. These results suggest that walking while swinging hand-held towels is a way to: (1) increase oxygen consumption without altering walking speed and (2) slow walking speed yet maintain exercise intensity.