PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO A TAP DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY: COMPARISONS WITH GRADED EXERCISE TEST AND PRESCRIPTION RECOMMENDATIONS SAMANTHA M.L. OLIVEIRA, 1 HERBERT G. SIMO ˜ ES, 2 SE ˜ RGIO R. MOREIRA, 2,3 RICARDO M. LIMA, 2 JEESER A. ALMEIDA, 2 FABIANA M.R. RIBEIRO, 1 GUILHERME M. PUGA, 2 AND CARMEN S.G. CAMPBELL 2 1 College of Physical Education, Catholic University of Brasilia (UCB), Bas´ ılia DF, Brazil; 2 Graduate Program on Physical Education and Health, Catholic University of Brasilia (UCB), Bras´ ılia, DF, Brazil; and 3 College of Physical Education, FederalUniversity of Vale do Sa˜o Francisco (UNIVASF), Petrolina, PE, Brazil ABSTRACT Lemes, S, Simo ˜es, HG, Moreira, SR, Lima, RM, Almeida, JA, Ribeiro, F, Puga, GM, and Campbell, CSG. Physiological responses to a tap dance choreography: comparisons with graded exercise test and prescription recommendations. J Strength Cond Res 24(7): 1954–1959, 2010—The aim of this study was to analyze the physiological responses to a tap dance choreography and to compare with those observed during a maximal treadmill exercise test, in tap dancers. Eight women (19.6 6 2.4 years; 162.3 6 4.4 cm; 54.0 6 2.3 kg; 20.5 6 1.4 kgm 2(21) ; and 5.1 6 2.6 years of tap dance training) were submitted to the following procedures: (a) graded exercise test (GXT) on a treadmill until volitional exhaustion with 0.8 kmh 21 of increment at each 3 and 1 minute of interval between stages and (b) tap dance choreography (TAP)—‘‘The Shim Sham Shim- my’’—consisting of 9 stages of 3 minutes with 1-minute rest between stages. Expired gas analyses were performed in all experimental sessions, providing breath-by-breath values for respiratory exchange rate (RER), oxygen uptake ( _ VO 2 ), and carbon dioxide production (CO 2 ). Heart rate (HR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were also measured. During the rest period between stages, blood samples (25 ml) were collected from the ear lobe for lactate threshold (LT) determination. It was observed that at the end of the TAP, subjects achieved an average of 83.8 6 6.2% of the HRmax and 68.9 6 11.3% of the _ VO 2 max, both previously identified in the GXT. The choreography demanded 204.7 6 31.3 kcal, an average RER of 0.88 6 0.05 and mean RPE of 13 6 2. The _ VO 2 , HR, and RPE values did not significantly differ from those at the LT intensity identified during the GTX. Based on the present results, it was concluded that the TAP performance in the ‘‘The Shim Sham Shimmy’’ choreogra- phy elicited acute physiologic responses similar to those observed at the LT intensity, thus suggesting that Tap Dance constitutes a useful exercise modality for aerobic fitness and cardiovascular health improvements. KEY WORDS dancing, blood lactate, oxygen consumption, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion INTRODUCTION P hysical fitness of professional dancers is as impor- tant as their specific skills development (5,10,12). It has been suggested that dancing can be used as an attractive type of exercise because of its potential effects on aerobic fitness for both health and performance, besides the promotion of happiness and social integration among their participants (14). The Tap dance is known as the ‘‘dance percussion’’ among the dance modalities, because it produces songs with the body, especially with the foot. It is well accepted that for cardiorespiratory fitness and health-related benefits, the physical activity should be per- formed around 70–85% of the maximum heart rate (HRmax) or between 50 and 85% of _ VO 2 max (1,11). The lactate threshold (LT) intensity has been pointed out as an effective intensity for fitness improvements (15). However, few studies were designed to evaluate the acute physiological responses of dancing and compare them to well-established parameters such as LT and _ VO 2 max. Cohen et al. (6) reported that in exercises performed during Classic Ballet classes, subjects achieved an average _ VO 2 of 20.1 mlkg 21 min 21 (46% of _ VO 2 max), and 158 bmin 21 of mean HR (around 85% of HRmax). Of note, these responses are comparable to those observed for exercise performed at LT intensity (21–24). In fact, several studies had examined the physiological responses to dance modalities such as modern dance (3,5,9,18,19), ballet (6,20), and aerobic dance (13). Address correspondence to Samantha Lemes, samanthalemes@gmail. com; campbellcsg@gmail.com. 24(7)/1954–1959 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research Ó 2010 National Strength and Conditioning Association 1954 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research the TM