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Maximum aerobic power and body composition in healthy East African older male and female subjects
Author(s) -
Davies C. T. M.,
Van Haaren J. P. M.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330390307
Subject(s) - lean body mass , aerobic exercise , muscle mass , composition (language) , demography , body weight , work (physics) , muscle power , body mass index , ethnic group , ethnic composition , psychology , gerontology , physical therapy , medicine , population , sociology , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , engineering , anthropology
The relationship of body size and composition to maximum aerobic power output during work on a bicycle ergometer has been examined in older African subjects divided into three groups: Active men and inactive men and women. Comparison is made with similar data obtained on young African subjects (Davies, Mbelwa, Crockford and Weiner, '73). The results show that in the older men and women, in contrast to the young African subjects, there was complete lack of association between physiological function and body size and structure. In this latter group max was completely independent of body weight, lean body mass, and estimates of leg muscle volume. These findings confirm and extend the work of Davies ('72b) on Europeans and suggest that the main determinant of aerobic power output in older men irrespective of ethnic origin is more closely related to transport and utilization of O 2 within a given active muscle mass than to the total quantity of muscle available to perform the work.