Abstract

We hypothesised that habitual physical activity (PA) together with progressive endurance training contributes to the differences in training response (D _V O2max) in healthy and physically active male participants. Twenty volunteers (age 30+3 years and _V O2max 54+7 ml _ kg71 _ min71) participated in an eight-week training program which included four to six heart rate-guided exercise sessions weekly. PA data over the whole period were collected by an accelerometer-equipped wristwatch. Individual relative intensities of endurance training and PA were separately determined by adjusting to _V O2max reserve and calculated as mean daily duration (min) of training and PA at light, moderate, high and very high intensity levels. _V O2max increased 6.4+4.1% (p50.0001) during the training period. D _V O2max correlated with the amount of habitual PA that was mainly of light intensity (r=0.53, p=0.016), but not with the duration of moderate, high or very high intensity PA (p=ns for all). Age, body mass index, and daily amount of training at any intensity level of exercise were not related to D _V O2max (p=ns for all). In conclusion, a high amount of habitual PA together with prescribed endurance training was associated with good training response in physically active males. Verf.-Referat