A 30-year follow-up study of cardiovascular capacity found that a 6-month fitness program reversed decades of decline, suggesting that it's never too late to start a fitness regimen.

Researchers at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas located five men who had been part of a study of exercise and aerobic power (also called cardiovascular capacity) in 1966. All had gained significant weight, and only one exercised regularly. Measures of their aerobic power varied, with three showing significant declines.

Their cardiovascular response to exercise was assessed by measuring their maximum oxygen uptake. After a six-month endurance training program, all five achieved measures of cardiovascular capacity that were similar to those recorded 30 years before.

Researchers concluded that 100% of the age-related decline in aerobic power occurring over 30 years was reversed in these middle-aged men by a 6-month endurance training program.

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