Anaerobic characteristics in male children and adolescents

Only sparse information has been published on the effects of growth, development, and maturation on the ability to perform high intensity, short-term "anaerobic" tasks. Cross-sectional studies on Italian, African, British, and American females and males have indicated an age-related progression in the performance of the Margaria step-running test. Children had a distinctly lower mechanical power output than adolescents and young adults, both in absolute terms and when divided by body weight, or by fat-free mass. Data are presented on some 300 10- to 45-yr-old Israeli males who performed the Wingate anaerobic test by cycling or by arm cranking. Both the peak power at any 5-s period and the mean power throughout the test were lowest in the children, whether expressed in absolute power units or corrected for body weight. Performance progressed with age and reached the highest values at the end of the third decade for cycling and at the end of the second decade for arm cranking. This pattern is unlike that described for maximal O2 uptake per kg body weight which, in males, remains virtually unchanged from childhood to young adulthood. In females, maximal O2 uptake per kg is even higher in children than among adolescents or adults. Biochemical correlates of such a low anaerobic performance in children are their lower maximal lactate concentration in muscle and blood, lower rate of anaerobic glycolysis, and lower levels of acidosis at maximal exercise. The mechanisms for the relatively deficient anaerobic characteristics of children are not clear.