# Vo2 Max testing - what to expect?



## Topher (Jun 5, 2005)

Hi all,

I have the opportunity to get Vo2 max tested this week (for free), so I'm going to take it. 

Is there anything I should know in advance, or questions I should ask to help me get the most out of test and my numbers?

I'll be doing the test running on a treadmill. 

Thanks!

Chris


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

1. Your VO2max is lower than you think.
2. It feels like a 4hr trainer ride (or in this case, a marathon) while you are doing it, but as soon as you are done, it feels like you didn't even finish warming up
3. You'll feel like you could have gone a lot harder after you finish.
4. Make sure there is a bucket next to you before you start the test. You may want it if you do the test correctly.


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## chase196126 (Jan 4, 2008)

Now Nitro, dont discourage the OP before the test! His Vo2 could be sky high. You never know what to expect!  

Here are a few suggestions:
1. If you get claustrophobic easily, see if the staff will allow you to warm up a little bit with the mask on so you can get comfortable. Find out what type of mask they are using if you can as well. Some go over the entire mouth and nose, where others go only in the mouth (no using your nose to breath) 

2. Dont be disappointing if your Vo2 is lower than expected, especially if you are just starting out in the sport. From my first Vo2 test to my second (with a year of proper training in between) my absolute Vo2 increased by .5 liters. Improvement is certainly possible. 

Also, your running Vo2 and cycling Vo2 will be different. Running should be higher unless you dont do much running. 

3. Give it everything! Dont let yourself stop, make the testers call it quits for you.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Topher, what kind of test is it, do you know? Full-scale breathing into a mask, or the usual health-club kind where you check HR and they use a formula to estimate your score?


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## kreuzberg (Feb 1, 2009)

Wow so painful. Gettttt readdddddy!


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## pacificaslim (Sep 10, 2008)

The gear is really uncomfortable at first, but eventually you're working so hard that you forget about it. You can't talk with the thing on so say anything you need to say first! 

The way I did it was to run at a fairly comfortable pace for me - like about a 10k race pace - but then they keep raising the slope of the treadmill each minute so it becomes harder and harder to maintain that pace. They would take heart rate every minute and blood pressure every other minute and ask me to point to numbers on a clipboard to tell them how I was feeling about my effort and if I wanted to continue. I could have kept going another level up but I could see my form was deteriorating and to hold the pace I would have just started overstriding (treadmill makes it easy to cheat) and I decided to pack it in. My peak numbers were slightly before the end anyway so my instinct was correct I guess.

I'm 41 but got my heart rate up to 193. Fun times. I'll do it again next year...


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## Topher (Jun 5, 2005)

Thanks for the comments, everyone. 

Creakyknees - its the full deal - breathing mask, monitors, etc. I'm having it done at the University at Buffalo Center for Health and Human Performance. 

I know it will hurt - I have done max heart rate tests before as a collegiate runner. I do hope that they will let me warm up first to get used to the apparatus. 

I will request the bucket, and will likely need it. 

I'll let you know how it goes!

Chris


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## Topher (Jun 5, 2005)

Wow. Those are painful. 

IliveonNitro hit it dead on. 

My experience was interesting - I have Cystic Fibrosis (genetic lung disease - see wikipedia for the basics), so the purpose of the test wasn't just to find my Vo2 max, but to learn about all the other pulmonary/cardiovascular numbers as prognosticators of lung disease. There is a growing body of work that suggests that exercise testing makes a lot more sense than simply doing pulmonary function tests (pfts). 

So, maybe that is TMI, but that's why I was doing the test. (that and my personal curiosity) 

First, I gave them a brief health history and exercise background, current training regiment, etc. 

I warmed up very slowly for 10 minutes - this gave me the change to loosen and cough out any mucous that had been produced since my morning meds and physical therapy - I am very productive, and not warming up like this would have made the test very difficult to complete. 

We started the test at a very comfortable pace, and then the incline was racheted up after 3 minutes, and then every two after that. 5%, 7.5%, 10%, 12.5%. I lasted 11 minutes, and they were happy with the effort - I plateaued in the last 20 seconds. They hit the emergency stop button on the treadmill, and I spit the mouth piece out (I used a scuba-like mouth piece instead of a mask because of the potential for having a productive cough in the middle of the test). From minute 8-11 hurt a lot. There was a poster of LA's face right infront of the treadmill - that helped a little. 

After stopping the run, the coughing started, and I think I owe them a new bucket... but they had been warned. 

So the results - I'll get the full results sent to me, but my Vo2 was 50, which I guess is decent enough (my age is 30) - I wasn't expecting miracles. I desatted a little - my o2 sats dropped to 87 in the last minute, which is a little low, but not scary nor unexpected considering the underlying lung disease. My Co2 levels were also low, suggesting that I start to hyperventilate toward the end, which is also not surprising, and consistent with some of my experiences with hard efforts climbing on the bike, etc. 

My breathing cycle information was great - often people with lung involvement have short inhalation, and longer exhales, making strenuous efforts particularly difficult. My cycles were normal, which is a good indication that the work I do, both physical exercise, and medical treatments/ chest pt that I do every day is benefiting me. 

I will get more detailed information in a week or two - the conductor of the test and my CF phsyician are going to dissect it all, and the three of us will meet to talk about it. 

So, I found it painful, but worth it. I don't think it will change much concerning how I train, but if it helps me recalibrate my hr zones, etc. that will be good. More importantly, its a much better data point than my usual quarterly pft, and going forward I'll be able to know more about how CF affects me physiologically, and what not (from here on out, I'll likely get tested annually - not so much for the Vo2 number, but for all the other stuff). 

Hope some of you found all fo that worth reading! 

Chris


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Very cool, thanks for the report.


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## *Dude* (Feb 26, 2004)

That is way cool information. Let us know the rest when you get the data


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