Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the acute effects of submaximal exer- cise upon serum cholesterol and hematocrit values. The subjects were seventeenmale athletes with mean age of 26.6 +- 3.5 years. Among the subjects, eight athletes had more than ten years of active athletic experience and nine athle-tes had less than five years of active athletic experience. Venous blood samples were collected before and immediately after fifteen minutes of exer- cise at 600 kgmmin on a bicycle ergometer. The mean pre-exercise serum cholesterol and hematocrit values were 217.58 +- 17.73 mg and 45.20 +- 2.97vol. respectively. There was significant increase in immediate post-exercisevalues of serum cholesterol (245.05 +- 12.86 mg) and hematocrit (49.70 +- 2.71 vol.). Increase in post-exercise serum cholesterol in eight subjects whohad more than ten years of athletic experience was far greater (17.1 ) as compared to that of nine subjects (9.1 ) who had an athletic experience of less than five years. It is suggested that effects of physical exercise on cholesterol level depended on the intensity of exercises and upon efficiency of the individuals. Verf.-Referat