Table 1.

Anthropometric and physiological characteristics of the elite cross-country (XC) skiers and the physically active control group (CON) of this study (means ± SD).

Participants	XC skiers	CON
	(n = 13)	(n = 12)
Age (years)	25 ± 4	26 ± 3
Height (cm)	182 ± 3	184 ± 4
Mass (kg)	77 ± 4*	83 ± 9
Body fat (%)	10.4 ± 1.7*	14.3 ± 3.5
Total lean body mass (kg)	67.5 ± 3.9	69.4 ± 7.4
Arm lean mass (kg)	8.2 ± 0.5	8.5 ± 1.1
Leg lean mass (kg)	21.8 ± 2.0	23.8 ± 3.2
$\dot{V}$O2peak RUN (mL⋅min-1⋅kg-1)	75.5 ± 4.2**	57.2 ± 6.4
$\dot{V}$O2peak UBP (mL⋅min-1⋅kg-1)	55.1 ± 6.1**	35.8 ± 4.6

Peak oxygen uptake in running ($\dot{V}$O_2peak RUN), peak oxygen uptake in upper body poling ($\dot{V}$O_2peak UBP). Mass (kg) is reported as a mean from three different assessments. ^{∗, ∗∗} Significantly different from CON at p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively.