A PSYCHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL STUDY OF PERCEIVED EXERTION IN RELATION TO PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA USING THE BORG SCALING METHODOLOGY

Abstract: An interesting aspect when studying the performance of physical work is the relationship between psychophysical and physiological growth functions as well as estimations of maximal capacity from sub-maximal levels. The current study compared the Borg CR10 and CR100 scales on physical work during a bicycle ergometer test with 24 test subjects, finding the CR100 scale slightly more detailed at lower levels of perceived exertion and containing a more natural nu-merical range. The CR100 scale was subsequently used to determine the psychophysical growth functions during cycling and power lifting. Obtained exponents were approx. 1.8 (chest) and 1.9 (legs) for cycling and 2.1; 2.2 for squats and bench press respectively. The data was used to estimate the maximal capacity of 17 subjects from sub-maximal levels, predicting one repetition max capacity within on av-erage 3 kg. Maximal aerobic capacity proved more problematic to es-timate, with obtained correlation coefficients of 0.38 (n.s.) - 0.65 (pd0.05) for running and cycling respectively (13 subjects).