[eric strt6]

Holy cow I just took one of those tests for the Fire Dept. Now I can really appreciate the treadmill scene in American Flyers

I was fully hooked up with ekg leads to the PC and starting from a walk they kept upping the ramp angle and speed every minute. I thought I was going to hurl on the last one, running at a full sprint up a steep incline, I'm 46 and this is what I got; max HR 180 resting hr 56, max bp 150 /72 resting bp 117/78 THAT WAS HARD

lung capacity is 6.87 liters

anybody else do one of these?

 

[Lost Coyote]

Just did a VO2 max test at UCLA a couple of weeks ago. They had me on a stationary bike not a treadmill. I'm 49 and had a max hr of 177bpm, Ventilatory max 183L/m, VO2 max of 25.3, with HR at threshold of 140bpm. Yeah, the test was hard. I guess the bad part is is shows how much I have to slow down to stay in the "zone" when training. UCLA reported that you lose about 1% per year as you age (once you're in shape that is).

 

[Topaz]

How long did the whole test last?

 

[eric strt6]

Originally posted by Topaz
How long did the whole test last?

It varies with how long you can go and how often they change the settings =15-25 minutes of workout plus the 15 minutes of prep to place the electrodes, 5 minutes to get the base calibration, 10 minutes of warm down so figure 45-1hr start to finish. they run you to the failure point, it really hurts.

 

[Lost Coyote]

I spent about an 1.5 hrs in the lab. They spent about 45 min. with questions, and baseline measurements. They measure lung cap etc. before hooking you up. I was told to "warm" up for about 5 min. by spinning easy (no resistance). The ramping of the resistance on the bike was linerar and was very easy spinning for what seemed like a long time. Once you start feeling like you're working, it didn't take long to max out. If your already near your max it doesn't take much to push you over the top. The Dr. running the test reminded me that they weren't measuring how long I could workout anarobicaly, but how my lungs works at different heart rates. He said that most people kinda complain about how hard the test gets so fast. I guess you feel guilty about how fast they thrash you but, you really don't know what to expect when you walk in. It is real different to breath through the mouth piece and have your nose plugged. I got lucky as they were doing a study on a group of 40 to 60 year olds, and it didn't cost a dime!

 

[El Jefe]

I've had quite a few. We used to get tested (the WVU track team) twice a year. Back then I did it on the treadmill.

Last test I had was about this time last year when I was just about to start XC training. I did it on a bike trainer. My max hr was 182, and damn. I can't remember how many liters of O2 I moved through various stages of the test but VO2 max was 77 and I was pushing 500 watts.

My best VO2 was in college when I hit a VO2 of 83 on 3 seperate occasions. Ahhh, the good old days......