Functional and Morphological Adaptations in the Heart of Children Aged 12–14 Years following Two Different Endurance Training Protocols

This study investigated the cardiac functional and the morphological adaptations because of two endurance training protocols. Untrained children (N = 30, age: 12–14 years) were divided into three groups (N = 10/group). The first group did not perform any session (CONTROL), the second performed ventilatory threshold endurance training (VTT) for 12 weeks (2 sessions/week) at an intensity corresponding to the ventilatory threshold (VT) and the third (IT) performed two sessions per week at 120% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2)max). Two other sessions (30 min running at 55–65% of VO(2)max) per week were performed in VVT and IT. Echocardiograms (Left Ventricular end Diastolic Diameter, LVEDd; Left Ventricular end Diastolic Volume, LVEDV; Stroke Volume, SV; Ejection Fraction, EF; Posterior Wall Thickness of the Left Ventricle, PWTLV) and cardiopulmonary ergospirometry (VO(2)max, VT, velocity at VO(2)max (vVO(2)max), time in vVO(2)max until exhaustion (Tlim) was conducted before and after protocols. Significant increases were observed in both training groups in LVEDd (VTT = 5%; IT = 3.64%), in LVEDV (VTT = 23.7%; ITT = 13.6%), in SV (VTT = 25%; IT = 16.9%) but not in PWTLV and EF, after protocols. No differences were noted in the CONTROL group. VO(2)max and VT increased significantly in both training groups by approximately 9% after training. Our results indicate that intensity endurance training does not induce meaningful functional and morphological perturbations in the hearts of children.