Research
Mixed
Women exhibit significantly lower post-exercise blood lactate concentrations than men during maximal exercise, despite achieving similar relative exertion (Borg Scale) and RER.
When assessing women, do not use the same blood lactate threshold (e.g., 8.0 mmol/L) as men. Women naturally produce ~18% less lactate at max effort. Use sex-specific thresholds (e.g., ≥ 7.0 mmol/L for women <50, ≥ 5.0 for 50-64, ≥ 3.5 for ≥65) to accurately capture their VO2max.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Women had an 18% lower (P<0.001) blood lactate level than men... There were no sex-related differences in HRmax, RER, or Borg Scale rating.
Why this rating
Large sample size, statistically significant.
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
More from this paper
- 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
- Post-exercise blood lactate concentration decreases significantly with age, making fixed high-lactate thresholds (e.g., ≥ 8.0 mmol/L) inappropriate for older adults.Good
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