Heart Rate Responses of High School Students Participating in Surfing Physical Education

Abstract

Despite the nation's rising epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes, schools struggle to promote physical activities that help reduce risks for cardiovascular disease. Emerging data suggest that adopting novel activities into physical education (PE) curriculum may serve as an effective strategy for increasing physical activity in children. The purpose of this investigation was to characterize activity in the water and heart rates (HRs) of high school students participating in surf PE courses. Twenty-four male (n = 20) and female (n = 4) high school students (mean age = 16.7 ± 1.0 years) who were enrolled in surf PE courses at 2 high schools participated in this investigation. Daily measurements of surfing durations, average HR, and maximum HR were made on the students with HR monitors (PolarFT1) over an 8-week period. In addition, HR and activity in the water was evaluated during a single session in a subset of students (n = 11) using a HR monitor (PolarRCX5) and a video camera (Canon HD). Activity and HR were synchronized and evaluated in 5-second intervals during data analyses. The average duration that PE students participated in surfing during class was 61.7 ± 1.0 minutes. Stationary, paddling, wave riding, and miscellaneous activities comprised 42.7 ± 9.5, 36.7 ± 7.9, 2.9 ± 1.4, and 17.8 ± 11.4 percent of the surf session, respectively. The average and maximum HRs during these activities were 131.1 ± 0.9 and 177.2 ± 1.0 b·min, respectively. These data suggest that high school students participating in surf PE attained HRs and durations that are consistent with recommendations with cardiovascular fitness and health. In the future, PE programs should consider incorporating other action sports into their curriculum to enhance cardiovascular health.

Characterization of Heart Rate Response During Frontside and Backside Wave Riding in an Artificial Wave Pool

“…[2-3, 6-7, 10] Specifically, average heart rates during wave riding have been reported to range between 140 and 150 bpm in recreational surfers. [2,[6][7] Interestingly, average heart rate during wave riding in the current study was 174.1 ± 12.6 bpm, or approximately 85% of the age predicted max HR. One can speculate that these reported differences between average heart rates during wave riding in the ocean and artificial wave pool are likely the result of increased wave riding duration in the wave pool (33.2 ± 8.4 seconds) compared to those previously reported in the ocean (5 and 14-seconds).…”

“…Several studies have described physical activity that occurs during a typical surfing session, yet much remains unknown regarding a surfer's physiological response to wave riding itself. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] This is due, in large part, to the unique challenges associated with making measurements in the ocean. Surfing occurs in an environment that is inherently complex and unpredictable; storms, swell direction, wind, bottom contour, and tide are all factors that impact the shape of each wave.…”

“…Average wave ride duration in the ocean has been reported to be between 5 and 14 seconds per wave, and observational data collected in the field suggests that wave riding constitutes approximately 5 percent of the total time spent surfing. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Recently, an artificial wave pool was developed that generates repeatable, high-quality waves, with durations of up to one minute (The Kelly Slater Wave Pool). [9] The wave generated by this technology travels in both directions in the pool, which allows a similar wave to be ridden both frontside (facing the wave) or backside (back to the wave).…”

“…However, these data should be interpreted with caution since the majority of studies sampled heart rate at a frequency (5 to 15 seconds) that was lower than the duration of the wave ride. [2,6,7,10] Currently, no data exist with sufficient time resolution and wave duration to thoroughly characterize the kinetics of the heart rate response during wave riding. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to characterize the heart rate response of surfers performing frontside and backside wave riding in the Kelly Slater Wave Pool.…”

El El surf en la educación formal: revisión sistemática (Surfing in formal education: systematic review)

“…En los trabajos rescatados se analiza la práctica del surf en distintas etapas educativas, tales como Educación Secundaria (Bravo, Cummins, Nessler, & Newcomer, 2016;Cavanaugh & Rademacher, 2014;Clapham, Lamont, Shim, & Armitano, 2018;Hignett, White, Pahl, Jenkin, & Froy, 2018;Machota Blas, 2014), Educación Primaria y Secundaria de manera conjunta (Cavanaugh, Rachmacher, Rachmacher, & Simmons, 2013;Clapham, Armitano, Lamont, & Audette, 2014;López Prado, Pardilla Fernández-Miranda, & Álvarez García, 2013), Educación Post-Secundaria Rynne, 2016) y Educación Terciaria (Pérez Turpin, Chinchilla Mira, Suárez, Cortell & Cejuela, 2008 ). Sólo el trabajo de Zagare y Wuo Pereira (2015) no indicó ninguna etapa educativa para el desarrollo de su propuesta, pudiendo ser aplicada a Educación Primaria o Secundaria.…”