GENETIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATION IN PERCEIVED EXERTION AND HEART RATE DURING BICYCLE ERGOMETER WORK

The relative contributions of heredity and environment to the variance in heart rate (HR) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) during the bicycle ergometer work were studied with 14 pairs of male (6 monozygous (MZ) and 8 dizygous (DZ)) and 22 pairs of female (8 MZ and 14 DZ) twins ranging in age from 11 to 20 years. The results showed for both sexes that no significant differences in the intrapair variances of HR and RPE could be observed between the MZ and DZ twin samples. Thus it was concluded that in contrast to several other parameters of the measurements of the physical work capacity HR and RPE are not influenced to any significant degree by the genetic factors.