[Claudio Duarte]

Claudio Duarte  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi Chris,
 
Top show you have, listen to it on Redi's show on 702 in SA, as well as the Podcasts on the website so just a thank you for the mental stimulation.
 
Just a quick one, I've been training for a while now, roughly 2/3 months, (gym, soccer and plenty road running) and feel relatively fit, being 26 and having been pretty active for most of my life, I was wondering how fitness & stamina is rated and they can be improved?

I understand that the ability to recover after a workout or any form of exercise is an indication of ones fitness level and that one can improve this, but is stamina relative to fitness and to what level can one improve one's fitness??
 
The reason I ask is because I have a few mates whom I play football with and relative to me, they hardly do any form of exercise apart from our weekly kick about. The thing is, when we have a 30min mini-match after training, they are able to maintain their level of intensity 2-3 times of what I am able to.
 
Is stamina and fitness an hereditary trait and can one improve to any level??
 
Thanks again for the great show!
 
Kind regards,

Claudio Duarte

What do you think?

[lancenti]

I would say that it is partially hereditary, stamina that is but I'm sure that training can also bring it up.

Stamina is generally a measure of how long you can keep doing things without getting tired. Strength is a measure of how much force your muscles can deliver. Speed is how fast you can perform the task. Fitness is all three put together (I think).

Also, your diet may play a part. Respiration requires a co-enzyme which is provided for by Vitamin B. Lacking this co-enzyme would mean that your respiration is less efficient and thus you'd run out of breath much faster. Considering that you're running on the road a lot, I don't think this should be a problem unless you run at a slow, jogging pace whereas during the game you're charging at five, maybe six times the speed thus your body will be forced into anaerobic respiration to keep up with the demand. Which brings us to VO₂ Max.

VO₂ Max is the maximum amount of oxygen you are able to take in and is effectively the limit of your body. In other words, VO₂ Max is like the speed at which you can run such that you're breathing as fast as you can and not feeling a ridiculously high amount of acid building up in your body. This can be improved by training.

Hope that helps, even though it's very little and may not have actually answered your question.

[arjelyn06]

Stamina or endurance, means the ability of your body to continue fitness activities for a long time. To improve this kind of fitness you need to do aerobic exercise or some workouts that you have used to in doing so. They are relatively connected with each other as you have got a very strong endurance. well we can say that you a very good fitness.