Physical Work Capacity as Influenced by Age

Abstract

Studies were carried out on 879 healthy soldiers of ages ranging from 18-46 years to assess the effect of age, if any, on physical work capacity. These subjects were in a fairly controlled state of nutrition and physical training. A battery of tests was administered under outdoor conditions as well as in the laboratory. It was found that all the physical functions tested, such as speed of running, abdominal muscle strength, agility, arm and shoulder muscle strength and capacity for short bursts of activity, started to show deterioration after 30 years, and the process was progressive thereafter. Judged from these performances the subjects seemed to fall into three distinct age groups, viz. 18-30, 31-37 and 38–43. The subjects above 43 years were too few to be considered for analysis. The mean maximum oxygen consumption was found to be 47.7 ml/kg/min in the 18-30 years group, and it was reduced to 45.8 and 42.1 ml/kg/min for the two higher age groups respectively. Excess lactic acid build-up due to a standard stepping exercise was also found to increase with age, and the tolerance time in endurance tasks was found to reduce with increasing age.

Performance in the running test correlated highly with the values for maximum oxygen consumption and endurance stopping, thereby indicating that even simple outdoor tests like running can be effectively used for assessing the physical work capacity, especially under field conditions.