INFLUENCE OF AGE AND PHYSICAL-TRAINING ON MEASURES OF CARDIORESPIRATORY AND MUSCLE ENDURANCE

This study describes associations between age, physical training and m easures of muscle and cardiorespiratory endurance. The subjects were 5 079 healthy male soldiers aged 18-53 years from 14 Army installations in the United States. The subjects completed as many push-ups as possi ble in 2 min, as many sit-ups as possible in 2 min, and performed a ti med 3.2-km run. The training level was assessed by asking the subjects two questions about the frequency (times each week) and duration (hou rs each week) of their physical training. For all three performance ev ents there were significant declines with age, but at a given age, gro ups that trained more demonstrated higher performance levels than grou ps that trained less. For the 3.2-km run, the age-associated rate of p erformance decline was less in the groups that trained more, and great er amounts of training resulted in progressively less performance decl ine with age. For push-ups and sit-ups, the training level did not sys tematically influence the age-related rate of performance decline. The results suggest that tasks involving different physiological systems may be influenced differentially by age and training. Training may slo w age-associated performance declines in tasks requiring cardiorespira tory endurance but not in tasks requiring muscle endurance.