Affiliations: Exercise Physiology Program, The University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: J.F. Caruso, 2100 S. Floyd Street, Louisville, KY 40292, USA. Tel.: +1 502 852 6648; Fax: +1 502 852 4534; E-mail: john.caruso@louisville.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Validity may refer to the inter-workout similarity of data from novel hardware to a device deemed the “gold standard”. The degree of familiarization to novel hardware may impact subsequent validity outcomes produced from repeated workouts. OBJECTIVE: To compare physiological, performance and perceptual variables to squats done with a barbell to those done with an exoskeleton intended as hardware for manned space flights. METHODS: Subjects made four laboratory visits. They did two familiarization sessions on the exoskeleton, followed by two workouts in which the sequence of the exercise hardware examined was determined by a coin flip. Per workout they did four repetitions each against four loads (23, 34, 45 and 57 kg) separated by 90-second rests. For the final two visits the same dependent variables were obtained before, during and after workouts. Z-scores identified outliers that were eliminated from further analyses. Dependent variables were compared with paired t-tests, Cohen’s d effect size, Bland-Altman plots and Pearson product moment correlation coefficients. RESULTS: Less than 1% of our data were outliers. Values for our dependent variables generally exhibited considerable inter-workout similarity. CONCLUSIONS: Exoskeleton findings were similar to those from a barbell and warrant continued inquiry, such as with microgravity simulation in human subjects.
