Lung capacity.

[Kiara is a rational girl]

So I stumbled across this page, which gives certain physiological details about riders in the 2005 Tour:

* The average rider: 1.79 metres tall, weighing 71 kilograms, with a resting heart rate of 50 BPM and a lung capacity of 5.69 litres.

Despite the average rider being easily average height in the broader population, and a larger lung capacity being decidedly beneficial to endurance athletes, the average Tour de France rider's lung capacity is pretty much average - or even slightly below average (presumably the figures are for men and women, and women have 20-25% lower lung capacities on average). To compare, Indurain apparently had 7.8 litres at 6'2", while Grant Hackett (a swimmer - long-torsoed) had 12.6 litres at 6'6".

My hypothesis is that because road cycling selects for longer legs and smaller bone structures, there's a necessary trade-off between those qualities and lung capacity.

Discuss, if you like.

 

[doolols]

AFAIK, it's not about absolute lung capacity, because that is affected by overall size. What's important is the VO2(max) - the uptake in oxygen, and especially the relative version (relative to bodyweight) - expressed in ml/kg/min.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max

The average young untrained male will have a VO2 max of approximately 3.5 litres/minute and 45 ml/kg/min.
Five time Tour de France winner Miguel Indurain is reported to have had a VO2 max of 88.0 at his peak, while cross-country skier Bjørn Dæhlie measured at 96 ml/kg/min. Dæhlie's result was achieved out of season, and physiologist Erlend Hem who was responsible for the testing stated that he would not discount the possibility of the skier passing 100 ml/kg/min at his absolute peak. By comparison a competitive club athlete might achieve a VO2 max of around 70 ml/kg/min.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Thah! I am 1.76 and I had 6.3 liters last year year before that 5.8 so those lungs keep on growing

 

[Martin318is]

At the age of 20 I was 183cm, 82kg, had 7.3L lungs and TT'd like a highy resistant brick.

Its not really lung capacity, its how the system uses it.

 

[42x16ss]

At the age of 20 I was 183cm, 82kg, had 7.3L lungs and TT'd like a highy resistant brick.

Its not really lung capacity, its how the system uses it.

Very much so.

The thing about swimmers is that breathing technique is a large part of your swimming stroke and needs to be deep, smooth and measured. This helps train the lungs to hold a greater volume of air.

Swimmers also focus on lung capacity so that they can do a long, fast underwater start, yet break the water without having to gasp for air.

Combine all this with the fact that a broad chest and shoulders help in swimming and you can see why swimmers generally have crazy lung capacity.

 

[Martin318is]

Speaking of which - at the time I could breath hold for well over 4minutes. So I had a large lung capacity and could use that air slowly, but I was still aerobically pretty average - or even below average. my main sport back then was rockclimbing and I was just getting into bike racing.

Bear in mind of course that just because you have say 6L lung capacity, it doesn't mean that you can take in 6L of air. In reality you have a tidal volume that is a lot less than that and at any one time there is a degree of CO2, etc sitting in your lungs.

 

[durianrider]

Its also been shown in studies that excess fat intake impedes oxygen transfer and delivery to the cells.

My last vo2 test at the AIS was 78. Its got to be over 83 based on my current climbing times.

 

[Alex Simmons/RST]

Its also been shown in studies that excess fat intake impedes oxygen transfer and delivery to the cells.

My last vo2 test at the AIS was 78. Its got to be over 83 based on my current climbing times.

Or perhaps the proportion of VO2max you can sustain for those durations has increased?

 

[Michielveedeebee]

Speaking of which - at the time I could breath hold for well over 4minutes. So I had a large lung capacity and could use that air slowly, but I was still aerobically pretty average - or even below average. my main sport back then was rockclimbing and I was just getting into bike racing.

Bear in mind of course that just because you have say 6L lung capacity, it doesn't mean that you can take in 6L of air. In reality you have a tidal volume that is a lot less than that and at any one time there is a degree of CO2, etc sitting in your lungs.

Yeah I know

 

[LabMonkey]

Lung capacity can not grow in adults - they are limited in sise by the size of your rib cage.