Birchall, John (1997) Ventilatory threshold and peak VO2 responses in prepubescent children following a high intensity training program. Research Master thesis, Victoria University of Technology.

Abstract

The focus of this study was to examine the influence of a high intensity training program on selected cardiovascular exercise responses in a group of prepubescent males. Thirteen healthy boys with a mean age of 10.0 years were randomly assigned to either control or an exercise group. Children in the exercise group participated in a ten week, three sessions per week, training intervention program. At the completion of the ten week training period the groups were reversed and the control group became the exercise group for the second ten week training program. The initial training group became the control or detraining group. Peak and submaximal cardiovascular exercise responses were measured on four occasions over the two training periods. Polar 'Sports Tester' Heart Rate Monitors were used during all of the training sessions which enabled heart rate data to be collected and stored during the exercise periods. A variety of exercise modes were used, these included, treadmill running, a variety of bicycle ergometers, monitored jogging trails and a modified basketball game. The duration of each training session was between 30-40 minutes, with the best 30 minutes of heart rate data used to estimate the work intensity during the study. No statistically significant changes occurred for absolute V02 l.min-1 and relative Peak V02 (ml.kg-1.min-1). There were significant changes recorded at the 0.05 level of significance for the following measures; V02 at V Slope breakpoint (V02 vs VC02), and V02 at VT as a percentage of peak V02. The main finding from this study was that, ventilatory threshold may be a more sensitive indicator of change in training responses for children.

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