The relationship between muscle deoxygenation and health-related physical fitness

Physical exercise is proven to be beneficial for health and studies have found that improved aerobic capacity is linked to reduced mortality. Dr Shun Takagi, Faculty of Education and Welfare, Biwako-Gakuin University, Japan, conducts research on the relationship between aerobic capacity and muscle deoxygenation during aerobic exercise involving different forms of exercise and different populations. Most recently, he is investigating the relationship between muscle deoxygenation during resistance training and improvement of muscle strength and thickness by resistance training. Enhancement of muscle deoxygenation during resistance exercise may be one of the determinants of muscle hypertrophy and increase in muscle strength and an improvement of muscle thickness and strength is related to improved quality of life. Therefore, the research could help enhance health among adults. If Takagi observes through his studies a strong relationship between muscle deoxygenation and health-related physical fitness, muscle deoxygenation could prove to be a useful indicator for effective exercise training to improve health-related physical fitness. Takagi and the team hope to be able to identify the determinants of muscle deoxygenation and then move onto developing effective training programmes for all generations, especially the more elderly. The researchers are utilising spatial resolved near infrared spectroscopy (SR-NIRS) in their work, as well as a newly established optical fat correction method to overcome the fact that the variables measured by SR-NIRS are affected by light scattering in the fat layer. This method has enabled the team to overcome challenges and drive their research forward.