Jove
Visualize
Contact Us

Related Experiment Videos

The limits of endurance exercise.

Timothy David Noakes1

  • 1Department of Human Biology, Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Boundary Road, Newlands, 7925, South Africa. tdnoakes@sports.uct.ac.za

Basic Research in Cardiology
|August 18, 2006
PubMed
Summary

Humans evolved as endurance animals, with early 20th-century polar explorers achieving the greatest recorded endurance performances. These limits, set by the mind, were established over a century ago and have not been surpassed.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Ketogenic Diets Are Beneficial for Athletic Performance.

Medicine and science in sports and exercise·2023
Same author

Ketogenic Diets Are Beneficial for Athletic Performance: Response to Burke and Whitfield.

Medicine and science in sports and exercise·2023
Same author

Physiological Effects of a Physical Training Program in Children with Exercise-Induced Asthma.

Pediatric exercise science·2023
Same author

What Is the Evidence That Dietary Macronutrient Composition Influences Exercise Performance? A Narrative Review.

Nutrients·2022
Same author

Hiding unhealthy heart outcomes in a low-fat diet trial: the Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial finds that postmenopausal women with established coronary heart disease were at increased risk of an adverse outcome if they consumed a low-fat 'heart-healthy' diet.

Open heart·2021
Same author

Do women experience less diaphragmatic fatigue during inspiratory resistance loading?

The Journal of physiology·2018
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Area of Science:

  • Human evolution
  • Exercise physiology
  • Sports science

Background:

  • Humans possess unique physiological traits favoring endurance activities.
  • Early 20th-century sporting events tested human endurance limits.
  • Polar exploration represents extreme human endurance feats.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze and compare human endurance limits across different historical events.
  • To determine if modern athletes surpass the endurance feats of early explorers.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of energy expenditure in historical endurance events.
  • Review of documented performances in pedestrian races, cycling tours, and polar expeditions.

Main Results:

  • Early 20th-century polar expeditions (Scott, Shackleton) involved the highest total energy expenditure.
  • Athletes in modern endurance events expend significantly less total energy compared to polar explorers.
  • The limits of human endurance were established in the early 20th century.

Conclusions:

  • Human endurance limits are primarily determined by mental fortitude, not solely physical capacity.
  • The greatest recorded human endurance performances occurred over a century ago.
  • Modern endurance events do not approach the extreme energy expenditures of early polar explorers.

Related Experiment Videos