Anaerobic Capacity Measures In Active Healthy Adults Ages 18-29: Normative Reference Values And Differences Between Sex

Abstract

We previously reported that the modified Anaerobic Speed Test (mAST) is a valid and reliable measure of an anaerobic capacity that can be administered on commercial treadmills. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop normative reference values for mAST, an anaerobic capacity test that can be administered and completed on a commercial treadmill. The mAST (15% grade and 244.0 m/min speed for men and 214.6 m/min speed for women) has been created as one of the only protocols based on the original AST protocol (20% grade and 214.6 m/min speed for men and 187.8 m/min speed for women). However, no percentile norms currently exist for the mAST protocols, limiting their usefulness and interpretation of results. This study presents normative values for active healthy adults ages 18-29, separated by sex. METHODS: We recruited 276 healthy subjects for this study: 161 males (mean ± SD, age = 23 ± 3 yr, height = 178 ± 7 cm, body mass = 80 ± 10 kg) and 115 females (age = 22 ± 3 yr, height = 165 ± 7 cm, body mass = 65 ± 10 kg) aged 20 to 29 years. All mASTs were completed on a motorized commercial gym setting treadmill for determination of subjects’ time (seconds) and total work (kJ). RESULTS: Time until fatigue was 47 ± 10 sec for women and 38 ± 13 seconds for men. Women fatigued at 80.8% of the total time men did (p < .05). Total work for women (12.8 ± 4.3 kJ) was 57.1% of the values observed in men (22.4 ± 5.53 kJ) (p < .05). Women’s mass corrected work (0.20 ± 0.070 kJ/kg) was 71.0% of men (0.28 ± 0.06 kJ/kg) (p < .05). Normative reference value tables were generated for time and both absolute (kJ) and relative values (kJ/kg) for total work (Table 1). CONCLUSIONS: The norms for time and total work produced from this study are considerably practical because of the use of both male and female active healthy populations and the use of a commercial treadmill.