Cardiovascular and skeletal muscle health with lifelong exercise

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of aerobic lifelong exercise (LLE) on maximum oxygen consumption (V̇o 2max ) and skeletal muscle metabolic fitness in trained women ( n = 7, 72 ± 2 yr) and men ( n = 21, 74 ± 1 yr) and compare them to old, healthy nonexercisers (OH; women: n = 10, 75 ± 1 yr; men: n = 10, 75 ± 1 yr) and young exercisers (YE; women: n = 10, 25 ± 1 yr; men: n = 10, 25 ± 1 yr). LLE men were further subdivided based on intensity of lifelong exercise and competitive status into performance (LLE-P, n = 14) and fitness (LLE-F, n = 7). On average, LLE exercised 5 day/wk for 7 h/wk over the past 52 ± 1 yr. Each subject performed a maximal cycle test to assess V̇o 2max and had a vastus lateralis muscle biopsy to examine capillarization and metabolic enzymes [citrate synthase, β-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (β-HAD), and glycogen phosphorylase]. V̇o 2max had a hierarchical pattern (YE > LLE > OH, P 26 ± 2 > 18 ± 1 ml·kg −1 ·min −1 ) and men (53 ± 3 > 34 ± 1 > 22 ± 1 ml·kg −1 ·min −1 ) and was greater ( P 70 yr), and similar to men, revealed a preserved metabolic phenotype comparable to young exercisers.