This paper will therefore focus on the extensive data base on young people’s peak V˙O2. The

determination of peak V˙O2 is well-documented and normally involves an incremental62 or ramp63 exercise test to voluntary exhaustion during which respiratory gases and HR are monitored. Only a minority of young people exhibit the plateau which conventionally marks maximal oxygen uptake ( V˙O2 max) in adults but it is well-established that a rigorously determined peak V˙O2 is a maximal index of AF during youth.64 The determination of young people’s peak V˙O2 is as reliable as V˙O2 max is in adults with a typical error across three tests of ∼4%.65 Direct determinations of peak V˙O2 are expensive and require sophisticated equipment, laboratory facilities and technical http://www.selleckchem.com/products/fg-4592.html expertise. They are therefore not compatible with the testing of very large samples of participants and several field tests designed to estimate peak V˙O2 have been developed.66 The most extensively documented test is the 20 m shuttle run (20mSRT)67 and large databases of young people’s performance on the 20mSRT have been published.68 The 20mSRT is not, however,

a direct measure of AF and performance Protein Tyrosine Kinase inhibitor is dependent on factors such as body fatness, mechanical efficiency, and fractional use of oxygen with affective issues (e.g., lack of motivation) and cognitive issues (e.g., inability to judge pace) also important. Validity coefficients of 20mSRT data relative to directly determined

peak V˙O2 expressed in ratio with body mass (mL/kg/min) have been reported to vary from 0.21 to 0.77.69 Boys’ peak V˙O2 rises almost linearly with chronological age and girls’ data show a similar but less consistent trend with some studies suggesting a tendency to plateau at about 14 years. Muscle mass is the dominant influence in the increase in peak V˙O2 through adolescence with boys’ peak V˙O2 about values ∼10% higher than those of girls at age 10 years and ∼35% higher by age 16 years. Over the age range 8–16 years peak V˙O2 increases by ∼150% and ∼80% in boys and girls respectively.4 When peak V˙O2 is expressed in relation to body mass a different picture emerges with boys’ peak V˙O2 remaining remarkably consistent from 8 to 18 years at ∼48–50 mL/kg/min and girls’ values showing a decline from ∼45–35 mL/kg/min over the same age range. The reporting of peak V˙O2 in ratio with body mass is of interest in the context of health and well-being but ratio scaling has clouded the physiological understanding of peak V˙O2 during growth and maturation.70 Longitudinal studies using multi-level modelling have demonstrated that, in addition to age, both growth and maturation independently and positively influence peak V˙O2.