Running performance and physiological characteristics of one man over a twenty-year period.

In general there is a slow decline in physical performance during maturity which becomes more rapid with increasing age. Maximum oxygen uptake ('Y02 max) is regarded as one of the best measurements of physical working capacity; and cross-sectional studies suggest that men lose about 11-14ml.kg-lmin-1 of aerobic power between the ages of 25 and 55 years (Astrand and Rodahl, 1977; Quirion et al, 1987; Shephard, 1978). Longitudinal studies report quite large decrements of between 10-30 ml.kg-lmin-1 over a 20year period between ages 30 and 50 years (Astrand et al, 1973; Dehn and Bruce, 1972; Robinson et al, 1975), depending on whether the subjects were inactive, or were active sportsmen. Many researchers suggest that this loss in physiological performance is more related to decreased habitual activity than to age itself. Thus, although it is accepted that the functional capacity of the cardiorespiratory system does decrease with age, this decrease can be minimised by regular physical activity (Barnard et al, 1979). De Vries (1980) further comments that the relative capacity for improvement in performance is probably not greatly different in middle age from that in youth. Thus the purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of training on performance of a subject between the ages of 30 and 50 years.