Metabolic Limits of Elite Athletes
Even for elite athletes, the body's metabolism has its limits. Ultra-endurance athletes can achieve huge energy spurts, but overall, they top out at 2.5 times the metabolic rate needed for basic body functions.
Scientists studied a group of 14 elite, highly trained athletes over the course of a year to clarify the upper limits of human energy expenditure. The results, published in Current Biology, suggest that the body cannot overcome its biological limitations.
The spirit may be willing, but the body just can't beat biology.
Biological anthropologist Drew Best and his colleagues found that ultra-endurance athletes, who triumph over staggering distances and harsh conditions, have a natural metabolic ceiling. Best notes that the athletes in the study
provide a natural experiment.
Author's summary: Elite athletes have a metabolic limit.