The article is devoted to the issue of the effects of training regimes on performance and oxidative stress in masters athletes. In particular, the article discusses the problems of the causes of the ageing, training modalities to improve endurance exercise performance, effects of a substantial manipulation of training volume and intensity on trained “masters” swimmers, and effects of training on oxidative stress.
Thus, concerning the issue of the causes of the ageing, this process is considered to be due to three factors:
1) aging per se acting as a biologic, irreversible process,
2) deconditioning due to the more sedentary lifestyle found in most elderly people, and
3) effects of co-morbidity, i.e., of primary diseases or injuries that are in principle independent of age, but which accumulate during the lifespan.
Next, discussing training modalities to improve endurance exercise performance, the main types of training are:
1) continuous training (CON) at low- to moderate-intensity characterized by high volumes of training (> 30 min) with intensities between 60% and 80% of VO2peak or below the “anaerobic threshold” (AT) with a nearly constant O2 consumption and without a “slow component” in O2 kinetics and
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