My VO2max Results
 

So yesterday I took a VO2max test here at the university. A good friend of mine is a grad student in the exercise science program so he got me in to do the test pretty easily. It was done on a cycle ergometer in the lab. Here are the results with some explanations they gave for each.


Demographics:
Age 26
Height (inches) 70
Total Body Weight (kg) 84

Maximal VO2 (ml/Kg/min):
Fitness can be measured by the volume of oxygen you are able to consume while exercising at your maximum capacity. VO2max is expressed as the maximum amount of oxygen in milliliters consumed during one minute of the exercise per one Kg body weight. A higher value of VO2max indicates higher fitness level.
Your VO2max was measured on the cycle ergometer at 55.23mL/kg/min with a maximal workload of 410 watts. This value is excellent (above the 97th percentile) of aerobic fitness for your age and gender. Relative oxygen consumption is the most common way to report VO2max as it is the best way to compare values between people since the number is relative to your body weight in kilograms. Another way to report VO2max is in absolute terms, or in L/min. The graph representing this data is also shown below. Your absolute VO2max is 4.58 L/min.

Power to Weight Ratio:
Power to weight ratio is the amount of power that you are able to produce per kilogram of body weight. Your weight for the test was 84 kg. The maximal amount of watts that you produced during the test was 410 watts. Your maximal power to body weight ratio is 4.88 W/kg (watts/kilogram body weight). A power/weight ratio of >5.5 W/kg is usually seen in top-level competitive cyclists. Table 1 shows your power to weight ratio at different points during the test.

Table 1.
Max W/kg 4.88
VT1 W/kg 2.83
VT2 W/kg 3.46
W/kg @ 3L/min (242watts@3L/min)3.42

Maximal Heart Rate (beats/min):
Maximal heart rate is often used as a tool for setting the exercise intensity, by setting a target zone. This graph presents the heart rate that was recorded during the exercise. Your maximal heart rate was measured at 191 beats per minute (bpm) during the cycling exercise. This is the maximal value that your heart can work. Your heart rate response during exercise is shown below.

Ventilatory Threshold:
The ventilatory equivalents are obtained from the ventilation data and the oxygen consumption & carbon dioxide production. The point of the exercise where there is an abrupt increase in VE/VO2 and/or VE/VCO2 is termed ventilatory threshold. Research shows that this point is very closely related to the lactate threshold point (also known as the anaerobic threshold). Knowing the ventilatory/lactate threshold aids in setting the level of exercise intensity and designing a training plan. You had two ventilatory thresholds.
Some athletes show two thresholds as shown below in your graph. Most training is focused around the VT2. Your first ventilatory threshold (VT1) was achieved at a heart rate of 156 bpm (82% of max HR), a VO2 of 34.6ml/kg/min (63% of VO2max) and a workload of 238 watts (49% of workload max). Your second ventilatory threshold (VT2) occurred at a heart rate of 170 bpm (89% of max HR), a VO2 of 43.8ml/kg/min (79% of VO2max) and a workload of 291 watts (71% of workload max).

Your Power to body weight ratio at VT1 was 2.83W/kg. Your power to body weight ratio at VT2 was 3.46 W/kg. Since your anaerobic or ventilatory threshold was achieved at a heart rate of 170 bpm (89% of your maximal heart rate), so you could potentially cycle for an extended period around this heart rate when you become really trained (though keep in mind that this value (HR) can be higher in outside conditions due to heart rate drift and dehydration).

Overall I feel pretty good about the results. I am in my first year of racing and only my second year of riding a road bike. My first crit is on Sunday, and I have done 2 road races this year. Results were not great, 17th and 15th out of 30 or so racers. I have to add that the test was done at 5000ft of elevation so it could be about 5-7% lower than if it were done at sea level. Comments and comparisons welcome.

I did one of those tests a month or so ago. They suck! Fun to get the numbers though.

mine's 608.

If you dropped to 70kg you would be up to 65 mg/kg/min. How tall are you?

I'm 5'10" but pretty heavily muscled. I am going to take a body comp test soon, but I would guess I am about 10% body fat. I would need to lose some fat and muscle from my upper body as well.

The last guy was right, it's not fair to compare your results with other cyclists since you could lose some weight especially if that mass is in you upper body. Guys that are 5' 10" are usually around 155-165. That upper body mass could be hard to get rid of depending on how long it's been there so 170 would be good to shoot for.

Its also worth noting that VO2 is probably the worst predictor of race performance. Its a cool number but is right up there with comparing heart rates. I'm sure this will draw flames...

Not to be harsh, and in fact your FTP is pretty good, and will only get better, but the stuff about V02max is a little bit misleading. Might place you in the top 97% for age and gender, but still in the bottom half of bike racers.

Take and use the FTP and LTHR numbers,(depending on if your training with power or HR) and use the Coggan chart.

Even that number is slightly meaningless. That's the wattage you put out for 1 minute during the test (which takes about 14). Mine was at least 100W over my FTP at the time (and is still over 75W higher. And my VO2Max put me in the "college student" range. Whatever that means...

I was taking his FTP to be essentially the 3.46 w/kg at VT2.

What is the Coggan chart? A quick search didn't yield much.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/media/...ofiling_v4.xls

The caveot here is that this chart has lots of limitations (heck if i truly believed all its implications I'd quit) butit cna give you an idea of your relative strengths and weaknesses.

Thanks, I will take a look.