[Effect of regular training on total and vital capacity of the lung in 17 to 25-year-old rowers].

Lung volumes, FEV1 and airway resistance have been repeatedly measured from age 17 to 26 in a group of 16 rowers. Total capacity, vital capacity and FEV1 are in the upper normal range. Airway resistance is normal. The increase in total and vital capacity from age 17 to 26 has been within the normal limits of other young men in the same age group. Intensive training does not appear to influence total and vital capacity once the final height has been reached. Top Swiss rowers of the years 1981 and 1982 have total and vital capacity values well above the predicted values for men of the same height and age, and also above those measured in top Swiss rowers of the period 1968-1972. The latter finding can be explained by a difference in the selection process.