Research
Mixed
Post-exercise blood lactate concentration decreases significantly with age, making fixed high-lactate thresholds (e.g., ≥ 8.0 mmol/L) inappropriate for older adults.
Do not judge an older adult's effort by the same lactate numbers used for young athletes. An 80-year-old reaching 6-7 mmol/L may have worked as hard as a 20-year-old reaching 12 mmol/L. Adjust your expectations for metabolic markers based on age.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
The postexercise blood lactate concentration was 12.0 (±2.7) mmol?L–1 in 20–49-year-old men and subsequently decreased linearly to 6.8 (±2.6) mmol?L–1 in the oldest age group (P<0.001).
Why this rating
Clear statistical trend across age cohorts.
Source
End Criteria for Reaching Maximal Oxygen Uptake Must Be Strict and Adjusted to Sex and Age: A Cross-Sectional Study
Elisabeth Edvardsen et al. · PLoS ONE · 2014
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0085276
cross_sectional · n=861Cited 365×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Using fixed, high-threshold end criteria (RER ≥ 1.15 or blood lactate ≥ 8.0 mmol/L) to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) systematically underestimates the VO2max of older adults and women, leading to their exclusion from fitness assessments.Good
- Women exhibit significantly lower post-exercise blood lactate concentrations than men during maximal exercise, despite achieving similar relative exertion (Borg Scale) and RER.Good
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