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Maximal aerobic power and anaerobic capacity in cycling across the age spectrum in male master athletes

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An Erratum to this article was published on 21 July 2016

Abstract

Purpose

We analyzed the best performance times of master cycling athletes in the 200–3000 m track competitions to estimate the decay of maximal aerobic power (MAP) and anaerobic capacity (AnS) with aging.

Methods

In various decades of age (30–80 years), MAP and AnS were estimated using an iterative procedure as the values that minimize the difference between: (1) the metabolic power (\(\dot{E} \left( t \right)\)) necessary to cover a given distance (d) in the time t and; (2) the maximal metabolic power (\(\dot{E}_{ \hbox{max} } \left( t \right)\)) maintained at a constant level throughout the competition.

Results

MAP started decreasing at 45 years of age. Thereafter, it showed an average percent rate of decrease of about 16 % for decade, as previously shown in other classes of master athletes. In addition, AnS seemed to decay by about 11 % every 10 years from the second part of the fifth decade.

Conclusions

The decay of MAP occurred in spite of the active lifestyle of the subjects and it may be attributed to the progressive impairment of maximal O2 delivery and/or of peripheral O2 utilization. The loss of AnS might derive from the progressive loss of muscle mass occurring after the fifth decade of life, to the progressive qualitative deterioration of the anaerobic energy yielding pathways or to the lower capacity of MN recruitment during maximal efforts. The proposed approach may be applied to other types of human locomotion of whom the relationship between performance t and \(\dot{E} \left( t \right)\) is known.

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Abbreviations

A :

Frontal area of the subject riding the bike (m2)

AnS:

Anaerobic capacity (kJ)

[ATP]:

Intramuscular adenosine-tri-phosphate concentration (mM kg−1)

BPT:

Best performance time (s)

C :

Energy cost of human locomotion (kJ km−1, J m−1 kg−1)

C c,a :

Average energy cost of cycling during the acceleration phase for a stationary start (kJ km−1, J m−1 kg−1)

C c :

Energy cost of cycling, (kJ km−1, J m−1 kg−1)

C rr :

Rolling resistance coefficient

C x :

Drag coefficient

d :

Distance (m)

E acc,a :

Amount of metabolic energy spent during the acceleration phase (kJ)

E Aer :

Percent contribution of aerobic energy sources to a given effort (%)

E AnS :

Percent contribution of anaerobic energy sources to a given effort (%)

\(\dot{E} \left( t \right)\) :

Metabolic power required to cover a given distance d as a function of the time in human locomotion (kW)

\(\dot{E}_{c} \left( t \right)\) :

Metabolic power required to cover a given distance d as a function of the time in cycling (kW)

\(\dot{E}_{ \hbox{max} } \left( t \right)\) :

Maximal metabolic power available to the athlete as a function of the time of effort (kW)

η c :

Apparent mechanical efficiency of cycling

g :

Acceleration of gravity (9.81 m s−2)

HRmax :

Maximal hear rate (beats per minute)

[La] b :

Blood lactate concentration, peak lactate concentration (mM)

M t :

Overall mass (subject plus frame) (kg)

MAP:

Maximal aerobic power (kW)

MAP1H :

Maximal aerobic power calculated from the metabolic power maintained by during best hour unaccompanied performance (kW)

[PCr]:

Intramuscular phosphocreatine concentration (mM kg−1)

ρ :

Air density (kg m−3)

t e :

Time of exhaustion (s)

τ :

Time constant of the mono-exponential increase of muscular oxygen uptake as a function of time of exercise (s)

s :

Speed of locomotion (m s−1)

\(\dot{V}\text{O}_{{2{ \hbox{max} }}}\) :

Maximal oxygen uptake (L min−1, mL min−1 kg−1)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurological and Movement Sciences, School of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    C. Capelli, P. Bruseghini, E. Calabria & E. Tam

  2. Department of Physical Performances, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Sognsveien 220, 0806, Oslo, Norway

    C. Capelli

  3. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany

    J. Rittveger

  4. Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    J. Rittveger

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  1. C. Capelli
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  2. J. Rittveger
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  4. E. Calabria
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Correspondence to C. Capelli.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The study was funded by the FUR 2014—UNIVR allocated to Carlo Capelli and Enrico Tam by the University of Verona.

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Communicated by Jean-René Lacour.

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Capelli, C., Rittveger, J., Bruseghini, P. et al. Maximal aerobic power and anaerobic capacity in cycling across the age spectrum in male master athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol 116, 1395–1410 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3396-9

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