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Int J Sports Med 1986; 07(3): 161-166
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1025755
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Aerobic and Anaerobic Thresholds Determined from Venous Lactate or from Ventilation and Gas Exchange in Relation to Muscle Fiber Composition*

S. Aunola, H. Rusko1
  • The Rehabilitation Research Centre of the Social Insurance Institution, 20720 Turku, Finland
  • 1Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
* This study was supported in part by grant No. 9189/78/79 from the Ministry of Education, Finland.
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Publication Date:
14 March 2008 (online)

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Abstract

The aerobic and anaerobic thresholds determined from venous lactate (AerTLa and AnTLa) or from ventilation and gas exchange (AerTr and AnTr) in relation to muscle fiber composition were compared. Twelve subjects were studied in double exercise tests carried out until voluntary exhaustion. They were divided into two groups according to their muscle fiber type in the vastus lateralis muscle: ST group with a majority of slow-twitch fibers (ST% = 66.0% ± 7.3%) and FT group with a majority of fast-twitch fibers (ST% = 27.7% ± 8.4%). A 2-min incremental exercise test protocol on a bicycle was used. There were no significant differences between the ST and FT groups in the V̇O2max or inthe Lamax. Neither the AerT nor the AnT related to the V̇O2max (%) differed between the ST and FT groups. In the FT group the AnTLa occurred 0.70 min in the first test and 1.06 min in the second test earlier than the AnTr, whereas in the ST group the AnTLa occurred at the same time or 0.44 min later, respectively, than the AnTr (P < 0.05). Expressed as V̇O2 the differences between thresholds were not so distinct. The results demonstrated that the mutual relation between the AnTLa and AnTr seemed to be dependent on the fiber type majority in exercising muscles (vastus lateralis) among untrained men.

Key words

aerobic threshold - anaerobic threshold - blood lactate - muscle fiber types - ventilation

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