Heritability of explosive power and anaerobic capacity in humans.

There is a disparity in the information about the heritability of the response of muscle anaerobic metabolism to exercise and the use of explosive power, as well as a lack of information concerning the genetic determinants of this form of work, as measured using different specific physical tests. We applied a battery of some of the commonly employed procedures (Ergojump, Wingate, maximal accumulated oxygen deficit, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and delta lactate concentration) to a group of 32 Caucasian male twins, 8 monozygotic and 8 dizygotic pairs, who had similar environmental backgrounds. Results were studied using a heritability index (HI).