Aerobic work capacity in young Norwegian men and women

¹ Institute of Work Physiology, Oslo, Norway

This paper deals with the problem of assessing the range of variability in work capacity of young adult Norwegians. Successful male athletes average 4.8 liter/ min or 71 ml/min per kg body weight in maximal oxygen uptake, versus 3.2 liter/min or 44 ml/min per kg body weight for a group of sedentary living men. Female athletes average 3.3 liter/min or 55 ml/min per kg body weight, compared to 2.3 liter/min or 38 ml/min per kg body weight for sedentary women. Oxygen cost of bicycling at submaximal work rates was the same in athletes and nonathletes, but with a clear sex difference, the females possessing a better work efficiency. The linear relationship between heart rate and oxygen uptake becomes curved in the least fit subjects (the sedentary women) when the exercise loads approach the maximal niveau. The maximal heart rate was found lower in athletically trained subjects. The exercise-induced hyperventilation takes place at an oxygen uptake corresponding to 70–80% of the capacity, this being the same in both sexes and uninfluenced by athletics.

Submitted on March 23, 1964

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