Locomotive efficiency is cited as an important component to endurance performance; however, inconsistent observations of age-related changes in efficiency question its influence in the performance of masters athletes.
This study examined locomotive efficiency in young and masters triathletes during both a run and cycle test.
Twenty young (28.5 ± 2.6 years) and 20 masters (59.8 ± 1.3 years) triathletes completed an incremental cycling and running test to determine maximal aerobic consumption (VO2max) and the first ventilatory threshold (VT1). Participants then completed 10-min submaximal running and cycling tests at VT1 during which locomotive efficiency was calculated from expired ventilation. Additionally, body fat percentage was determined using skin-fold assessment.
During the cycle and run, VO2max was lower in the masters (48.3 ± 5.4 and 49.6 ± 4.8 ml kg(-1) min(-1), respectively) compared with young (61.6 ± 5.7 and 62.4 ± 5.2 ml kg(-1) min(-1), respectively) cohort. Maximal running speed and the cycling power output corresponding to VO2max were also lower in the masters (15.1 ± 0.8 km h(-1) and 318.6 ± 26.0 W) compared with the young (19.5 ± 1.3 km h(-1) and 383.6 ± 35.0 W) cohort. Cycling efficiency was lower (-11.2 %) in the masters compared with young cohort. Similar results were observed for the energy cost of running (+10.8 %); however, when scaled to lean body mass, changes were more pronounced during the run (+22.1 %).
Within trained triathletes, ageing can influence efficiency in both the run and cycle discipline. While disregarded in the past, efficiency should be considered in research examining performance in ageing athletes.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 7. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 September 2018.
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#5,939,064
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#1,554
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Outputs of similar age from European Journal of Applied Physiology
#19
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Altmetric has tracked 27,248,354 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 78th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 4,606 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its peers.
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