Top 10 Research Questions Related to Youth Aerobic Fitness

Abstract

Peak oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]₂) is internationally recognized as the criterion measure of youth aerobic fitness, but despite pediatric data being available for almost 80 years, its measurement and interpretation in relation to growth, maturation, and health remain controversial. The trainability of youth aerobic fitness continues to be hotly debated, and causal mechanisms of training-induced changes and their modulation by chronological age, biological maturation, and sex are still to be resolved. The daily physical activity of youth is characterized by intermittent bouts and rapid changes in intensity, but physical activity of the intensity and duration required to determine peak [Formula: see text]₂ is rarely (if ever) experienced by most youth. In this context, it may therefore be the transient kinetics of pulmonary [Formula: see text]₂ that best reflect youth aerobic fitness. There are remarkably few rigorous studies of youth pulmonary [Formula: see text]₂ kinetics at the onset of exercise in different intensity domains, and the influence of chronological age, biological maturation, and sex during step changes in exercise intensity are not confidently documented. Understanding the trainability of the parameters of youth pulmonary [Formula: see text]₂ kinetics is primarily based on a few comparative studies of athletes and nonathletes. The underlying mechanisms of changes due to training require further exploration. The aims of the present article are therefore to provide a brief overview of aerobic fitness during growth and maturation, increase awareness of current controversies in its assessment and interpretation, identify gaps in knowledge, raise 10 relevant research questions, and indicate potential areas for future research.

Keywords: Adolescents; children; oxygen uptake kinetics; peak oxygen uptake.