Physical fitness appears to be a graded, independent, long-term predictor of mortality from cardiovascular causes in healthy, middle-aged men. A high level of fitness was also associated with lower mortality from any cause.

Nine 56–68-year-old male subjects performed muscular work up to maximal loads on a bicycle ergometer while breathing both ambient air and oxygen. Heart rate increased to an average maximum of 163/min. The maximal O2 intake averaged 2.24 l/min. and the blood lactic acid concentration 85 mg/100 ml. In no case was the maximal heart rate higher when breathing O2 than when breathing air. This low maximal heart rate in older people probably limits the capacity for O2 intake. Four subjects were able to work for about 1 hour without any sign of exhaustion on a work load requiring an O2 consumption of about 50% of their maximal aerobic work capacity. Submitted on October 3, 1958

No abstract

Oxygen uptake and carbon dioxide output were measured in 32 untrained subjects during exercise on the bicycle ergometer. It was shown that the work respiratory quotient (RQ) under standardized conditions can be used as a measure of physical fitness. ΔRQ (work RQ minus 0.75) increases logarithmically with the work load and maximal O2 uptake is reached at a ΔRQ value of 0.40. This observation offered the possibility of predicting the maximal O2 uptake of a person, based on the measurement of RQ during a single bicycle ergometer test at a submaximal load. For each work RQ between 0.95 and 1.15 a factor was presented, together with the aid of a simple equation, which gave a good approximation (generally better than ±10%) of the maximal O2 uptake.

No abstract