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VO2 Max Testing at St. Thomas University

by Jay Wenner
August 5, 2001

Do I have to Puke?

If you�ve never been tested, the words VO₂ max testing probably bring to mind an unpleasant image like cramping and puking after giving a maximal effort. Dan Carey subjected me to a VO₂ max test this morning at the University of St Thomas Human Performance Lab. I must say the test is not all that bad. It�s kind of like doing a long hard interval. In fact, I even suggested we do a second running test after completing the cycling test, but Dan didn�t take me seriously.

What is VO₂ Max?

It is the maximum volume of oxygen consumed by the body each minute during exercise. This absolute VO₂ max value is divided by your body weight to give a relative VO₂ max, and when people talk about numbers like 80, they�re referring to 80 ml/min/kg or relative VO₂ max. The reason VO₂ max gets a lot of attention, is that it indicates how much oxygen your body can process, and this figure is usually a pretty good indicator of your aerobic athletic potential. Certainly there are many factors that go into making a good aerobic athlete, but the common analogy is that VO₂ max is the equivalent to your aerobic engine size. Both genetics and training have a large influence on the final value, so pick your parents and train hard.

Why Get Tested?

A good reason to get tested, is that the VO₂ test also gives a number of other facts that guide a training plan or monitor the progress of training. For this reason, usually athletes with an eye towards improvement are the ones who get tested. Anaerobic threshold (AT) heartrate (HR) was the most interesting number for me, but I walked out with pages of numbers and graphs with things like max heart rate, max watts (on the bike) and training zones. Besides the aerobic testing, I also got a dunk test to quantify my percentage body fat and prove that I really am too fat. My goal now is to raise the AT number, and lower the fat number, and then confirm the changes with another test later this the fall. Stay tuned.

Another reason to get tested is to determine your VO₂ max and then grumble that you�re not a world class athlete. After hearing that national level athletes are typically in the 70�s, world class athletes are in the 80s, and mutants like Bjorn, Miguel, and Greg (do we need last names?) have numbers like 90 ml/min/kg or higher, we all want to post high numbers. It�s easy to forget that an untrained person off the street will probably be in the low 40�s, and a value of 48 ml/min/kg for a 40 year-old male puts you in the 90^th percentile range. Also remember that this number also goes down with age. (For a lot more detail, see Stephen Seiler�s site: http://home.hia.no/~stephens/vo2max.htm)

Ready to start the test

What�s the Test?

Pick your poison: running or cycling. The running treadmill test generally gives numbers about 5-10% or maybe 4 ml/min/kg higher than cycling, but my knees don�t like running, so I picked cycling. Since St. Thomas is near my home, I cycled to the lab, removed my pedals, and mounted them on the isokinetic bicycle. Isokinetic means that at low pedal rpm, the drag is higher than at high rpm so as to normalize the power output to a specific number of watts. Before the test is a weigh-in (140 lbs), and then a warmup.

The actual test starts at 25 watts and increases at 25 watts/minute from there. For those who love numbers, here�s my test (30 sec intervals were recorded, but I�ve listed half the data):

Working away

Minutes	HR	Watts	VO2/kg
1	99	25	9.8
2	99	50	16.7
3	108	75	17.1
4	121	100	22.2
5	120	125	26.4
6	129	150	28.4
7	137	175	34.0
8	145	200	37.7
9	153	225	42.1
10	162	250	45.1
11	169	275	50.8
12	179	300	53.7
13	185	325	58.6
14	188	350	60.6
15	189	375	63.2
15:30	189	400	61.9
16		400	61.1

Did I go hard enough?

The first feeling after quitting is that I quit too soon. "Oh man, I could have gone another minute if I had to, but my legs just felt polluted."

Quick look at the results

Fortunately, there are a couple of indicators that show if you completed the test. The main one is that my VO₂ max values started to decrease in the last minute. This plateau indicates the end of the test or that Elvis has left the building.

What were the numbers?

First, I�ll tell you what I expected my numbers to be. I asked Dave Christopherson about his VO₂ max, and he tested out in the mid- to upper-60�s ml/min/kg (� 7 ml/min/kg in a series of tests). Since Dave and I have similar skiing results and I don�t feel in particularly fine shape right now, I expected about 60-65 ml/min/kg. As for max heartrate and AT, the highest I�ve ever seen is 185 bpm and my guess at AT was about 167-168 bpm now, and about 170 bpm in the fall as my condition improves (both on the bike). As for percent fat, I know that�s a problem from previous caliper tests, so I�d guess that at about 13%.

The Test Numbers

VO₂ Max	63.2 ml/min/kg
Max HR	189 bpm
AT HR	153 to 169 bpm
Max Watts	375
Max Watts/kg	5.8
Body Fat	15.7%
Weight	140 lbs

What do the numbers mean?

Dan Carey going over the detailed results

One nice aspect of the test, is that Dan goes over all the numbers and puts them in context to others he�s tested and the normal population. My VO₂ max was at the upper end of what St Thomas has measured in mostly local cyclists. A few guys have tested in the upper 60s, but according to Dan, "63 is pretty good on the bike." Since I thought 185 bpm was my max HR, it was pretty surprising to see 185-189 bpm for about three minutes at the end of the test. I normally do 3-4 min intervals at about 170 bpm, so doing 3 min at 185-189 bpm constitutes "a hard one."

The AT numbers are dependent on the calculation method. The 153 bpm number is the more traditional figure based on an inflection point (a turn upwards) in the CO₂ vs. VO₂ graph. Joe Friel, author of The Cyclist�s Training Bible (http://www.ultrafit.com/), calls this lower figure a conservative value and he prefers a second method. The second method accounts for the fact that when you inhale or exhale, part of the air volume remains in the mouth and throat. This method gives a number closer to what I�ve found through years of riding, and that is, I start to cook above 170 bpm on the bike.

I�ll admit it, 375 watts is on the low side compared >400 figures of the local cyclists tested, and this confirms what I�ve found in road races: I�m lousy at bridging gaps, time trailing and sprinting. The 5.8 watts/kg is pretty good, which indicates I can hold my own climbing. These numbers support that my past road racing has amounted to a spectator sport: sit in the pack on the flats, hang on during the climbs, and watch the sprint from the rear.

Here comes the part where you can look at the glass as half-empty or half-full. 16% body fat is pretty beefy for a male athlete. The positive slant on this is, get yourself down to 7.5% body fat (128 lbs) and your VO₂ max would be pretty impressive at 69 ml/min/kg (assuming you don�t lose muscle or conditioning). The negative slant is, it seems to take an act of god for me to lose weight. Two weeks of rumbling stomach drops my weight about one pound. Also, weight loss usually is about 20% muscle/80% fat, so the final VO₂ would be less than 69 ml/min/kg since there�s less muscle to process the oxygen.

What ya gonna do?

Well, this depends on motivation. My plan is to lose some weight (a couple pounds is realistic), do some threshold training (unusual for me), and then get tested again as the ski season draws near. Of course talk is cheap, so hopefully I can back it up with some numbers later on.

Jay Wenner is a top area skier, finishing 44th overall in the 1999 Birkie, and 68th in last year's slugfest. Jay has been forced to 'doing more with less' this year after recently finishing graduate work and now working a full-time job. -- Ed.

Details on St. Thomas Health & Human Performance Lab

VO2 max test $60

Hydrostatic weighing $20

Wingate test $15

If you'd like more information or to set up an appointment, contact Dan Carey at:

Phone 651-962-5972

E-mail [email protected]

Web Site Dan Carey's Web site

SPECIAL OFFER
Dan Carey is offering free hydrostatic weighing to skinnyski.com readers when you take the VO2 maximal test. This special offer is only good for the month of August, and you'll need to mention skinnyski.com to receive the discount.