Cardiovascular and skeletal muscle health with lifelong exercise

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of lifelong aerobic exercise (LLE) on VOmax and skeletal muscle metabolic fitness in trained females (n=7, 72±2y) and males (n=21, 74±1y), and compare them to old healthy non-exercisers (OH; females: n=10, 75±1y; males: n=10, 75±1y), and young exercisers (YE; females: n=10, 25±1y; males: n=10, 25±1y). LLE males were further subdivided based on intensity of lifelong exercise and competitive status into performance (LLE-P, n=14) and fitness (LLE-F, n=7). On average, LLE exercised 5d/wk for 7h/wk over the past 52±1y. Each subject performed a maximal cycle test to assess VOmax and had a vastus lateralis muscle biopsy to examine capillarization and metabolic enzymes (citrate synthase, β-HAD, and glycogen phosphorylase). VOmax had a hierarchical pattern (YE>LLE>OH, P<0.05) for females (44±2>26±2>18±1 ml•kg•min) and males (53±3>34±1>22±1 ml•kg•min), and was greater (P<0.05) in LLE-P (38±1 ml•kg•min) than LLE-F (27±2 ml•kg•min). LLE males, regardless of intensity, and females had similar capillarization and aerobic enzyme activity (citrate synthase and β-HAD) as YE, which were 20-90% greater (P<0.05) than OH. In summary, these data show a substantial VOmax benefit with LLE that tracked similarly between the sexes, with further enhancement in performance trained males. For skeletal muscle, 50+ years of aerobic exercise fully preserved capillarization and aerobic enzymes, regardless of intensity. These data suggest that skeletal muscle metabolic fitness may easier to maintain with lifelong aerobic exercise than more central aspects of the cardiovascular system.

Superior Aerobic Capacity and Indices of Skeletal Muscle Morphology in Chronically Trained Master Endurance Athletes Compared With Untrained Older Adults

“…Nevertheless, it is clear from our results that chronic endurance exercise training leads to greater MHC I and II fibre capilliarisation in MA compared with OC and, in some cases, YC. These findings are consistent with recent evidence that the continuation of endurance training into older age maintains skeletal muscle capilliarisation47 .However, recent evidence from a cross-sectional analysis of highly trained MA (55-79 y)suggests that chronic endurance training does not completely prevent the decline in capillary density12 . Nevertheless, the greater muscle fibre capilliarisation and MHC I fibre area observed in our cohort of endurance-trained MA may, at least partly, explain their superior aerobic fitness levels.Whilst our findings clearly demonstrate superior indices of physiological function and muscle morphology in MA compared with OC, we are unable to determine whether chronic endurance exercise offsets the trajectory of age-related physiological deterioration.…”

Single-cell transcriptional profiles in human skeletal muscle

“…Prior research has found that that sedentary elderly subjects have ~25% lower capillarization than sedentary young subjects, while elderly master athletes (i.e. lifelong exercisers) have similar capillarization to young athletes [50][51][52] ; we find a similar pattern in endothelial cell compartment changes with training. Although there is little data regarding levels of immune cells in skeletal muscle during the menstrual-cycle, there are menstrual-cycle related differences in the proportions of circulating immune cell types 53 .…”

“…All procedures associated with the research were approved by the Institutional Review Board at Ball State University and performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Subjects 8,52 provided written informed consent prior to participation. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis as we have previously described 8,52 .…”

High-Performance Practice Processes

“…Similar to Section 4.1, we successively consider the cases where the coupling constraint in (P × ′ ) is loose or tight. In both cases, we will show that the optimal practice process can be structured in cycles, demonstrating the power of habit for skill retention, consistent with the empirical evidence of the benefits of lifelong exercise (Gries et al 2018).…”

“…In addition to developing mathematical models, the physiology literature provides ample evidence of high-performance strategies such as "tapering" (i.e., progressively reducing the training load before a race [Mujika and Padilla 2003]), "periodization" (i.e., structuring the training program in cycles of highintensity sessions followed by periods of recovery [Bompa and Haff 2009]), and lifelong exercise for long-term benefits (Gries et al 2018). However, few attempts have been made to demonstrate the optimality of such strategies besides Morton (1991) and Banister et al (1999), who evaluated the performance of a specific set of training profiles via simulation.…”