Makenzie Griffin

SER 311 01 Testing & Exercise Prescription

Module 2: Cardiorespiratory Fitness Tests

28 February 2023

Dr. Brian Larouere

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Background

Being an active individual is an important aspect of staying healthy and living a long life.

Taking part in cardiorespiratory fitness helps with said staying healthy and living a long life.

This is because cardiorespiratory fitness is the capacity of the circulatory and respiratory systems

to provide oxygen to skeletal muscles during prolonged physical exercise. The more oxygen your

body can sustain during exercise, the longer you can perform your activities and stay fit and

healthy. The better your cardiorespiratory fitness, the less likely you are to gain several illnesses.

Knowing your cardiorespiratory endurance level is essential since it might be a sign of good

health or a warning that you need to increase your fitness level. Improving your cardiorespiratory

endurance benefits your overall health. Your lungs and heart can utilize oxygen more effectively.

Low levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, for example, are linked to an increased risk of

cardiovascular disease. Cardiorespiratory fitness not only predicts cardiovascular outcomes, but

it is useful because the tests can also help predict cancer, dementia and Alzheimer's disease,

depression, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, etc.

Data

I am currently 20 years old; I identify as a female; I am about five feet and seven inches;

I weigh about two hundred sixty pounds. I try to go to the gym three to four days a week

depending on my schedule, and I always warm up on a treadmill first. Out of my three to four

days, I will do legs one day, arms another day, and cardio another day. If I can get four days in, I

will combine all those activities into one day. So, in conclusion, I only perform aerobic training a

small amount of time three out of the four days and strictly perform only one out of the four

days. When testing myself using the procedures for the single stage submaximal treadmill walk

test, I found that my VO2 using the proper equation was 33.2782 ml/kg/min.
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Test
Name of Date of Interpretation
Score Confidence in Accuracy of test Results
Test Test of Score
(VO2max)
Between fair
and poor for
age and sex
and between
YMCA the 40-35%ile High: administrator was very accurate with his blood pressure and heart rate
Bike Test (table 3.9 p. 91- measurements. His timing was excellent, and he was confident with all his
(Dan) 2-9-23 27.25 91) measurements. VO2max value made sense to me because I am out of shape

poor for age High: administrator was very careful with her timing of her measurements to make
YMCA and sex and in sure she was using the correct HR at the right time. If not, HR could change at any
Bike Test the 20%ile second. She also. made sure to add the right weight at the right time due to my HR
(Shannon) 2-16-23 21.85 (table 3.8 p. 92) in the first stage

Single Low: administrator’s calculations were accurate with the values used at the end of
Stage good for age the test with HR and speed, but I feel like something is off. All my other VO2 max
Treadmill and sex and in values for treadmill walk taken by other administrators were in the twenties. She
Walk Test the 70%ile could have misread the HR on the monitor for the last minute and in return created
(Aaliyah) 2-10-23 43.58 (table 3.8 p. 89) inaccurate results
Single very poor for
Stage age and sex
Treadmill and in the High: administrator worked well with changing my walking pace so my HR would
Walk 15%ile (table increase as close to my age predicted HR max and reach steady state between
(Sydney) 2-16-23 26.89 3.8 p.90) the last two minutes.
Single very poor for
Stage age and sex
Treadmill and in the
Jog Test 14%ile (table High: administrators HRs were in the proper range for the test and were reliably
(Anna) 2-24-23 26.31 3.8 p. 90) monitored with an HR monitor. The steady-state HR was precisely measured.
Single very poor for
Stage age and sex
Treadmill and in the
Jog Test 10%ile (table High: administrators HRs were in the proper range for the test and were reliably
(Lindsey) 2-24-23 25.13 3.8 p.90) monitored with an HR monitor. The steady-state HR was precisely measured.

Rockport poor for age

1-Mile and sex and in Moderate: administrator was not at fault for my confidence in this test. This is
Walk Test the 25%ile because I felt like I changed my pace frequently by accident and this could result in
(Bri) 2-21-23 31.87 (table 3.8 p. 89) inaccurate results.
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Discussion of Test Results

The highest quantity of oxygen that an individual can use during intensive or maximal

exertion is referred to as VO2 max or maximal oxygen consumption. VO2 max can be limited by

both central (heart, lungs, blood vessels) and peripheral (oxygen extraction from tissue)

physiological activities.

For variability in my predicted VO2 max from various tests, I observed certain

individuals had similar values for VO2 max throughout the different tests, and some individuals

had different values. This could be because if an individual takes part in strictly cardiovascular

exercise, they are comfortable with say running on a treadmill or biking with a weight, so they

have high VO2 max values that are similar between tests. Say an individual never works out on a

bike but regularly weight lifts and jogs on a treadmill, they may have high VO2 max values for

the single stage treadmill tests, but poor values for the YMCA bike tests. I also found that

individuals that could withstand a faster speed on the treadmills and more weight on the bikes

had higher VO2 max values when compared to others. This is because they can withstand a more

intense form of exercise and use more oxygen throughout their blood during exercise.

The most common source of error I observed and took part in was individuals not

understanding the process of adding weight to the bike for the YMCA bike test. Instead of

adding say an additional 0.5 kp to the preexisting 0.5 kp, an individual would add a whole other

1.0 kp. Because of this error, an individual's heart rate could increase more rapidly than it should,

and this results in a poor VO2 max value. It is not negative to reach a steady state in the first two

stages, but to reach it with a high heart rate can cause inaccurate results. I also found that some

individuals when performing the YMCA bike test would take their client’s heart rate at random

times each minute instead of exactly at the end of each minute. This was something that had
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happened to me as I was being tested frequently. This results in inaccurate data because heart

rate can fluctuate at any second. An individual could reach a steady state in their last stage, but

the heart rate measurement that was taken, was taken at the wrong time. There is always a

possibility that an individual might not have reached a steady state if the administrator took their

heart rate at the correct time. Say an individual performed two stages but the heart rates were

taken at incorrect times, there is a possibility that they could have needed more stages to

perform. Because of this, VO2 max cannot be accurate from the start regardless of the values

found due to graphing. With the single stage treadmill tests, I found that sources of error

occurred when administrators set their client's speed too high at the beginning of the test which

resulted in fluctuating heart rates by the end of the test. When you gradually increase your

client’s speed, if need be, their heart rate should increase as well. This results in accurate steady

state heart rates and a final heart rate that is close to an individual's age-predicted max heart rate.

When an accurate steady state final heart rate is achieved, one can then use those values in the

correct VO2 max equation to get an even more accurate value. A final source of error I observed

and misunderstood myself at first, was how steady state worked for the YMCA bike tests when it

came to moving on to the next stage or finishing the test. All of this meant that steady state was

not achieved properly for some tests, and this resulted in inaccurate points that were to be

graphed which then led to inaccurate VO2 max results.

Based on my answers to the previous parts, I believe that the single stage treadmill walk

and jog tests were the most accurate in assessing cardiorespiratory fitness. I believe this because,

in an outside setting, individuals participate in walking or jogging on a treadmill more than they

do biking in any kind of way. It is harder to participate in an activity that you are not used to

when compared to an activity you partake in frequently.

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Learning

Personally, the single stage treadmill walk tests and jog tests were a lot easier to complete

and perform on my end when compared to the YMCA bike tests. A lot of my positive comments

with those tests stated the same things. For example, I was polite and had good manners

throughout my tests and encouraged my clients to always finish strong and not be afraid to tell

me if they felt sick. There were times though when I messed up on those tests because of being

overwhelmed. I tested a client on the treadmill walk test, I forgot to set the incline to the five

percent grade and in return, her VO2 max was extremely high which could not be accurate.

When I first started running my tests, I was not confident in explaining what VO2 max meant. I

agreed with this no and my observer helped me get better at this. As I performed more tests and

got a better understanding of it, I was able to explain to my clients what VO2 max meant and

help them understand it. My first couple of YMCA bike tests included a good bit of correction

comments because I was still learning. These vary from messing my timings up, not allowing the

client to cool down, and not understanding the steady state requirements. Once these issues were

brought to my attention, I was able to learn from them and get better as I performed more tests.

The most challenging aspects of conducting the YMCA bike tests for me were

misunderstanding when I needed to add more minutes to each stage and knowing when I could

move on from each stage. Unlike the single stage treadmill tests that required a steady state of

four to eight beats per minute for the last minutes of the test, the YMCA bike test required the

steady state to be below four beats per minute between the last two minutes of the test for one to

stop the test or move onto the next stage. This is something that I messed up in my first couple of

tests which possibly led me to inaccurate results. As I performed more of the tests and observed
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individuals that had a good understanding of them, I was able to learn, get better, and test my

clients with great confidence.

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