LimitationsMaximumOxygenConsumption - 0 views
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hayley Yudelman on 16 Nov 08History of VO2 max
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The idea that the human body cannot survive without oxygen has been known for millennia. However, the notion that oxygen and its delivery and subsequent metabolism by exercising muscles is crucial to prolonged activity is relatively new, having first gained attention in the 1920s with the work of the English physiologist A. V. Hill.
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s limited by the ability of the cardiorespiratory system to transport oxygen to the working muscles [1 ].
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Christensen [2] noted that there was a large variation in the heart rate response to exercise between subjects and that those subjects who performed regular physical activity typically had lower heart rates at a fixed workload as compared to their untrained counterparts.
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The study revealed that aerobic training led to a decrease in submaximal heart rate without a change in cardiac output.
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The larger hearts were attributable to hypertrophy of the left ventricle, which was a result of chronic aerobic training [2].
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experiments carried out in the 1950s and 60s actually measured such variables through intrusive, surgical means.
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While early studies concluded that the size of a person's heart was largely dependent on training status and subsequently was an accurate determinant of aerobic performance, these conclusions lacked substantial concrete evidence.
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Procedures now allowed for the measurement of oxygen content in the arterial blood as well as oxygen content in the venous blood which could be used to extrapolate how much oxygen was extracted by the working muscles at the cellular level.
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he question then arises: what defines a fit person? At this particular point in time, most agree that aerobic capacity is the best indicator of overall fitness. As the field of exercise physiology evolves, this idea may change or it may remain the same. Occasional paradigm shifts are to be expected in a field as young and imperfect as exercise physiology.