A Study On The Effect Of Endurance Running On Circulorespiratory Function In Young Children

Abstract

Twelve young boys as an experimental group and seven as a control group, aged 5-6 years, participated in a study to clarify whether circulorespiratory trainability exists in young children. The subjects in the experimental group performed a 915 m endurance run on an agricultural road every day except Sundays for six months. During the run, heart rates (HR) equivalent to 3-4 mmol.l-1 of blood lactate concentration (LA) were maintained for at least 3-4min.m-1. The control group was given no special training. Before and after the training period, both groups were subjected to increased stepwise running velocity on a flat treadmill till subjective exhaustion to determine circulorespiratory variables such as heart rate (HR), oxygen uptake (Vo2) and blood lactate concentration (LA) at all steps. From the above mentioned procedure, the following findings were obtained:1) After the 6-month endurance run training, Vo2max/TBW was significantly (p<0.05) increased from 47.5 to 50.4ml.kg-1.min-1 and also the peak LA was significantly (p<0.05) increased from 5.41 to 6.36 mmol.l-1 in the experimental group. On the other hand, no significant increases were observed in the control group.2) Running velocity in the final stages (Vmax) was significantly (p<0.001) improved from 190.0 to 205.0m.min-1 in the experimental group. Such effects were due partly to the improvement of circulorespiratory function and partly to improved efficiency of running motion. However, no significant differences were found in the control group.3) Submaximal V, HR, and Vo2/TBW equivalent to 3 and 4mmol.l-1 and their values relative to the maximum values showed no significant differences before and after the training period in both groups. The improvement of maximal circulorespiratory variables observed in the experimental group suggests the existence of trainability even in young children. © 1990, The Japanese Society of Physical Fitness and Sports Medicine. All rights reserved.