Determinants of whole-body maximal aerobic performance in young male and female athletes: The roles of lower extremity muscle size, strength and power

This study sought to determine whether lower extremity muscle size, power and strength could be a determinant of whole-body maximal aerobic performance in athletes. 20 male and 19 female young athletes (18 ± 4 years) from various sporting disciplines participated in this study. All athletes performed a continuous ramp-incremental cycling to exhaustion for the determination of peak oxygen uptake ([Formula: see text]: the highest [Formula: see text] over a 15-s period) and maximal power output (MPO: power output corresponding to [Formula: see text]). Axial scanning of the right leg was performed with magnetic resonance imaging, and anatomical cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of quadriceps femoris (QF) and hamstring muscles at 50% of thigh length were measured. Moreover, bilateral leg extension power and unilateral isometric knee extension and flexion torque were determined. All variables were normalised to body mass, and six independent variables ([Formula: see text], CSAs of thigh muscles, leg extension power and knee extension and flexion torque) were entered into a forward stepwise multiple regression model with MPO being dependent variable for males and females separately. In the males, [Formula: see text] was chosen as the single predictor of MPO explaining 78% of the variance. In the females, MPO was attributed to, in the order of importance, [Formula: see text] (p < 0.001) and the CSA of QF (p = 0.011) accounting for 84% of the variance. This study suggests that while oxygen transport capacity is the main determinant of MPO regardless of sex, thigh muscle size also has a role in whole-body maximal aerobic performance in female athletes.