vo2max - Personal Trainer Community - Forum

[muscletrainerdh-NSCA CPT]

Should trainers know how to calculate VO2MAX?

How often do you calculate VO2MAX for your current clients?

How many times has a client come up to you and asked "What is my Vo2Max?" or "What can I do to improve my Vo2Max?"

What submaximal test do you prefer to use to calculate VO2MAX?

In my 12 years of working with the general population, I've been asked about Vo2Max ONCE, when I was training someone for the Tour De France.

What are your answers to the questions above?

I'm helping someone study for the ACE Certification exam and he's getting really stressed out about this topic. And while I told him it is good to know the protocol, it rarely comes into play when training the general population client who just wants to "lose weight" and "tone up".

I don't want to tell him to ignore the topic, just not be so stressed about it as if it will make or break his personal training career. (As it would if he was working with professional athletes or in a fitness lab type setting).

Can't wait for your input,

Dave

[akyoda32]

one of my certs is ACE and I would suggest that your friend not stress out over it. Really just make sure that you know the difference between relative and absolute VO2max. As far as using the information, in 2 years of my being certified nobody has brought it up but me. Clients don't even know what it is unless you explain it, or they are competitive endurance athletes such as you tour de france guy. If your friend needs help with anything a group of people who were studying for the ACE exam started a forum just for that. We are more than willing to help people with any questions that they have in regards to the exam and studying for it.

http://friendsoface.activeboard.com/

As far as what submaximal test I use I like the Aastrand bike test here is the link to the calculator that I use.
http://www.health-calc.com/fitness-tests/aastrand-test

The upside to knowing VO2max is it will allow a trainer to calculate how many cal are being burned during a workout by using average heart rate and a VO2 calculation. This allows for a more accurate calorie consumption plan to fit the needs of the client.

[ajnov5]

Although I'm still studying for my ACSM exam, I've noticed from friend's and other personal trainers that when it comes to VO2 max, realistically only professional athletes or amateur endurance athletes ask about it. Since i'm not a PT yet, maybe someone could shed some light on this subject, but other than knowing precise calorie expenditure during a workout and achieving optimum training results, does knowing your VO2 max make that much of a difference? I've felt that knowing your resting and max HR would be a better indicator for the general population when designing harder workouts

I had my VO2 max tested (62), but in all honestly, it has only caused a slight modification in my marathon training regiment.

[akyoda32]

When it comes to the general public I have never used it. Resting heart rate is easier for the clients to understand and is a lot easier to test. lol

The Karvonen formula(heart rate reserve) is suppose to correlate to VO2max so knowing that is really all that I use for target heart rate training.

[megfit]

Hi Dave,

Yea, as we all can attest to, unless you're working with a higher-end althete, VO2Max is not going to come up!

However, the point is that fitness professionals should have an understanding of what it is and why it's important, AND how it relates to generally fitness training.

I once took an incredible workshop that focused very deeply on using the VO2Max in fitness training and learned quite a bit that, for ME, helped me work with my clients more effectively. Just because we learn the knowledge and understand the concepts doesn't mean it really ever comes up in conversation with our clients. BUT, what DOES come up is 'how can I lose weight?', and we then have the understanding as to how we can use the more complicated concepts of fitness to help us help them achieve that goal.

I am part of a workgroup with ACE who re-writes test exam questions for one of the advanced certifications, and we always include questions on these topics. AND, we also try to then include questions that make the test taker apply those concepts.

Margie

[C Lenart]

Measuring VO2, basically gives you the person's oxygen uptake capability. This is the volume of oxygen consumed by the person in liters per minute known as absolute VO2 or you can adjust the VO2 for body weight or mass which is the volume of oxygen consumed by the cells of each kilogram of body mass per minute. This is known as Relative VO2. The resting relative VO2 is generally about 3.5ML times kg of body mass times minutes expended. Generally speaking, one liter of oxygen consumed expends 5 calories.

Nice formulas. Point is by checking V02, you're examining the person's ability to uptake oxygen. By getting in better aerobic condition, a person has the ability to increase their V02 max which is the cardiovascular system's ability to deliver oxgen to the working muscles(cardiac output) and the muscles's ability to extract oxygen for use. (oxidative metabolism) When clients get in better aerobic condition, their muscles ability to uptake oxygen increases as mitochondrial density in the muscles inceases. Mitochondria are the muscles processors of oxygen. This is an exercise adaptation. In addition, stroke volume of the heart increases as the client gets in better aerobic condition. This also increases VO2.

Some of the more common tests for measuring VO2 is the treadmill test where you test the client ability to work out in their targeted heart rate or max heart rate or a function of the oxygen/heart rate reserve otherwise known as the Karvonen method. The Karvonen heart rate reserve formula for checking the targeted heart rate you should be working at is: HR max minus resting heart times the intensity factor of .40 to .85 plus resting heart rate. Heart rate reserve is max heart rate minus resting heart rate. Generally speaking, the VO2 reserve is equal to the heart rate reserve.

As general rule, most gyms or exercise facilties should do a sub-maximal or sub max VO2 test before they start a client on a exercise program and then check back periodically to see if the client has progressed in a period of time.

Lots of stuff here but I hope this explains some of the practical applications of measuring V02 and the test stuff for some of the cert exams out there.

Curt
ACSM- Health & Fitness Specialist

[wesuhlee]

i think that clients way of asking to improve their vo2 is stating that they want to get in better shape...almost every client of mine wants to improve their fitness level...cardiorespiratory endurance is one of the components of fitness, therefore, it should be greatly considered

i've never administered vo2 max tests on any of my clients...i do like the submaximal tests, when appropriate...because each client may have different restrictions, some tests may not work...i like the step test and the 1.5 mile run...they are easy and very inexpensive to administer

the results of the submax vo2 can be used to develop a relatively accurate cardiovascular activity plan that can be given to the client as homework