VO2 Max & Metabolic Rate Testing
VO2 max is the the maximal amount of oxygen that they body is able to use and is the gold standard measure of aerobic fitness.
A VO2 max fitness test can give you the tools to make sure that your time spent training is as efficient as possible. Studies show that previously sedentary people training at 75% of aerobic power for 30 minutes, 3 times a week over 6 months increase VO2 Max an average of 15-20%. Many people are inefficient exercisers, with no understanding of what specific heart rate, intensity or duration would best help them reach their specific goals.
A VO2 Max test can clarify the specific target heart rates that will enable each individual to reach their fitness goals more effectively, with less fatigue and fewer injuries. Periodic retesting provides motivating feedback as the fitness program progresses.
The test also determines the number of calories burned during every level of exercise, providing valuable information when designing a weight loss program. As we also measure CO2 during the test, a Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) can determine the proportion of energy coming from carbohydrates and fats at various levels of exercise intensity.
In addition to VO2 max, we also offer resiting metabolic rate or RMR testing. Every wondered if your metabolism is fast or slow? If its slow, what can you do about it? Perhaps you are wanting to work with a dietitian for weight loss. An RMR test can tell you how many calories you burn each day at rest. We can also tell you the split between how much carbohydrate and fat you are using. This information can help your dietitian decide what is the best caloric intake to help you achieve your goals. It also informs us of what type of exercise is best to boost your metabolism if it is slow.
Why not just estimate RMR? There are plenty of free formulas and calculators available online that will estimate this for you. Problem is that these types of equations are designed using data sets of many hundreds of thousands in order to give a a good representation across a population. The better of these formulas are pretty good but the thing about using population data to assess an individual, is every one is different and small variants away from the average can make a big difference.
For example, lets say your estimated RMR was 2000cal/day but in reality, your actual metabolic rate was 10% lower than that (1800cal/day). Over the course of a year that extra 200cal/day is the equivalent of 10.4kg in fat gain. Of course this is a simplistic calculation and there is a lot more to weight gain or loss than this, but it does show that small varients can make a big difference over time. If your done guessing with your body, get in touch with us today.