Development of aerobic and anaerobic fitness

Abstract

AbstractPeak oxygen uptake (V.O2peak) is the ‘gold standard’ measure of youth aerobic fitness. There is no corresponding measure of anaerobic fitness and current understanding of the development of anaerobic fitness is principally founded on peak power output (PP) and mean power output (MP) during the Wingate anaerobic test. Multiplicative allometric modelling of large longitudinal data sets of V.O2peak, PP, and MP has demonstrated the powerful influence of fat-free mass (as a surrogate of active muscle mass) on the development of both aerobic and anaerobic fitness. In youth, anaerobic fitness increases at a greater rate than aerobic fitness and this can be largely explained by asynchronous developmental changes within active muscle. There is a progressive increase in potential for glycolytic flux with age and maturation so that from a metabolic perspective, children have a well-developed capacity for sports principally supported by oxidative metabolism but are likely to be disadvantaged in sports heavily reliant on anaerobic metabolism when compared to older and more mature youth. The ability to quickly attain high (or maximum) power output and retain much of it for a sustained period are important components of performance in many youth sports. This involves an interplay between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism which depends upon the mode, intensity, and duration of the exercise and the relative development of the youth athlete’s aerobic and anaerobic fitness.