Gender Differences in Maximal Aerobic Performance and Lactate Levels

The aim of this study was to examine the differences of blood lactate levels in response to incremental exhausting exercise according to gender. 70 men (mean ± SD: age:19.15±0.06 years; height:177.64±6.62 cm and weight: 67.99±6.52 kg) and 30 women (age: 18.98 ± 0.11 years; height:168.51±6.50 cm and weight: 58.16±7.34 kg) aged 18-20 who had similar training history, normal body mass index values (18.5-24.9 kg/m2) and normal lactate level in pre-exercise (<2 mmol) were included in this study. A 20 m shuttle test was used to determine maximal aerobic power. Blood lactate concentrations were taken from the earlobe before and immediately after the aerobic performance test. The aerobic power values of males were higher than females as expected. (53.44±2.29 ml.kg-1.dk-1 versus 43.35±4.95 ml.kg-1.dk-1, p<0.001). Although maximal oxygen consumption values were found higher in males, it was seemed that the lactate levels were similar between groups after maximal aerobic performance (9.90±1.95 mmol/l vs 9.46±1.69 mmol/l, p=0.28). Our results indicate that, even if aerobic capacity and exercise performance of males was higher than females, they have similar blood lactate levels. There was no significant difference between peak lactate levels of males and females