Effects of Adolescent Sport Practice on Health Outcomes of Adult Amateur Endurance Cyclists: Adulthood Is Not Too Late to Start

Abstract

Background: We investigated the effects of adolescent sport practice on the training, performance, and health outcomes of adult amateur endurance cyclists and compared health outcomes of 3 adult groups: amateur endurance cyclists who practiced sports during adolescence, amateur endurance cyclists who did not practice sports during adolescence, and inactive individuals.

Methods: In 859 (751 men and 108 women) adult cyclists and 718 inactive subjects (307 men and 411 women), we examined adolescent sport practice, current training status, quality of life, quality of sleep, anxiety and depression, and cardiometabolic risk: body mass index, physical activity, physical fitness, adherence to Mediterranean diet, and alcohol and tobacco consumption.

Results: Independent of gender, no significant differences in training, performance, or health outcomes were observed between amateur endurance cyclists who practiced sports during adolescence and those who did not. Independent of gender, cyclists reported significantly better health outcomes than inactive individuals in all variables, except depression.

Conclusions: Training, performance, and health outcomes did not differ between adult amateur endurance cyclists who practiced sports during adolescence and those who did not, but their health outcomes were significantly improved compared with inactive individuals, except for depression.

Keywords: exercise; physical activity; physical performance.