**VIENNA, Austria (AP) **-- Riding the grueling Tour de France bike race takes strength, stamina – and perhaps a heart nearly 40 percent bigger than normal.
Researchers who examined the hearts of former Tour bikers found that the athletes’ hearts were from 20 to 40 percent larger than average, said Dr. Francois Carre of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes, France, speaking at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.
I saw that same article. Not exactly suprising in my mind. Their lungs would be larger as well.
I’d like to see data on heart size prior to becoming athlete versus training into a TdF participant.
no, lungs are generally not rate limiting and would be normal size.
Per my pulmonologist, you can’t increase your lung size. You can only increase your aerobic effeciency. No doubt about it, having less lung tissues decreases your performance.
Slight tangent here.
Heard a recent competitorradio interview of Saul Rasin where he describes a spine curvature condition he has had since childhood and some related conditions. Bottom line was docs tell him it gives him significantly more lung capacity than most. He also talked about how he has had lactate testing indicating he rides harder/longer before mmol increases up to typical threshold levels.
Interesting interview, wish I could rememebr more details.
