Key result
Senior male endurance athletes had significantly lower relative aerobic capacity (40.36 vs 57.97 mL/kg/min) and peak power output (172.4 vs 451.6 W) compared to young athletes.
Why the study?
With the increasing popularity of competitive sports among older adults, this study assessed differences in cardiorespiratory output at anaerobic threshold and maximal power during incremental exercise between senior and young athletes.
Does aging affect cardiorespiratory responses at anaerobic threshold and maximal power output in male endurance athletes?
Cross-Sectional (n=18)
Does aging affect cardiorespiratory responses at anaerobic threshold and maximal power output in male endurance athletes?
Aging in endurance athletes is associated with significant declines in maximal aerobic capacity and peak power, primarily driven by reduced maximal heart rate, though submaximal exercise economy remains preserved.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Senior athletes preserve submaximal economy despite lower peaks; leaves open whether lifelong training attenuates age-related cardiorespiratory decline.
Within recent years the popularity of sportive activities amongst older people, particularly competitive activities within certain age groups has increased. The purpose of this study was to assess the differences in the cardiorespiratory output at anaerobic threshold and at maximal power, output during an incremental exercise, among senior and young athletes. Ten elderly male subjects [mean (SD) age: 68.45 ± 9.32 years] and eight young male subjects [mean (SD) age: 25.87 ± 5.87 years] performed an incremental exercise test on a treadmill ergometer. No significant differences in body size were evident; however, the differences between the groups for peak power (451.62 ± 49 vs. 172.4 ± 32.2 W), aerobic capacity (57.97 ± 7.5 vs. 40.36 ± 8.6 mL kg-1 min-1), maximal heart rate (190.87 ± 9.2 vs. 158.5 ± 9.1 beats min-1), peak blood lactate (11 ± 1.7 vs. 7.3 ± 1.4 mmol L-1), and % VO2max at ventilatory thresholds (93.18 ± 4.3 vs. 79.29 ± 9.9%) were significantly lower in the senior athletes. The power output at anaerobic threshold was also higher (392 ± 48 vs. 151 ± 23 W) in the young athletes, explaining the significant difference in terms of performance between these groups. We have observed an evident deterioration in some of the cardiovascular parameters; however, the submaximal exercise economy seems to be preserved with aging. Exercise economy (i.e. metabolic cost of sustained submaximal exercise) was not different considerably with age in endurance-trained adults.
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Michalis et al. (2020) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy endurance athletes (n=18). Advanced age (Senior athletes) vs. Young athletes was evaluated on Relative aerobic capacity (VO2max) in mL/kg/min (p=<0.01). Senior male endurance athletes had significantly lower relative aerobic capacity (40.36 vs 57.97 mL/kg/min) and peak power output (172.4 vs 451.6 W) compared to young athletes.
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