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Pat VanGalen's avatar

Nailed it, Brady. Been training consistently for 50 years; competed in running and triathlons, too; now, mountain competitions. Have I slowed down? Yup! 😉

We CAN ‘slow the pace’ at which our VO2 max declines. More ammunition to “ramp up or dampen down; just don’t quit.”

👍🏔

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frnkr's avatar

Interesting. This left me thinking how much of the maximum heart rate decline can be attributed to the heart muscle tissue change and how much for the decrease in oxygen demand.

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Doug K's avatar

thank you, a lucid explanation.

Another thing that isn't trainable, is the lungs. I found this out the hard way by getting old..

Physiologic basis of respiratory disease, Hamid, Shannon and James Martin

Edited by Q. Hamid, J. Shannon and J. Martin

with normal aging (even in nonsmokers) substantial progressive losses occur in the alveolar-capillary surface area, diffusion capacity, and the lung's elastic recoil..

these changes vary widely in magnitude in normal healthy subjects

habitual physical training has marked effects on slowing the aging process in the cardiovascular system but has no apparent effect on age-dependent deterioration of lung structure.

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Pat VanGalen's avatar

Doug, you are correct. It’s actually cardio-respiratory health and fitness. 👍🏔

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