Gh. Hartung et al., PREDICTION OF MAXIMAL OXYGEN-UPTAKE FROM SUBMAXIMAL EXERCISE TESTING IN AEROBICALLY FIT AND NONFIT MEN, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine, 64(8), 1993, pp. 735-740
Aerobic physical fitness, as determined by the body's maximal capacity
to utilize oxygen (Vo2max) during demanding work, is an important det
erminant of a person's ability to perform many military tasks. The pre
sent 2.4 km (1.5 mi) run has not proven itself capable of accurately e
stimating this important factor on a periodic basis. This paper review
s prior studies of heart rate response to known workloads on a cycle e
rgometer to estimate VO2max. This submaximal test, as revised by scien
tists at the USAF Armstrong Laboratory at Brooks AFB, TX, was validate
d on 22 male subjects by comparing the test results with laboratory me
asurements of VO2max obtained by analysis of expired air during maxima
l treadmill exercise. Two groups of subjects were selected; one consis
ting at highly trained runners and the other of inactive subjects who
did not perform regular aerobic exercise. The cycle ergometry predicti
on underestimated measured VO2max by 8.1 ml.kg-1.min-1 (SEE = 4.25) in
all subjects, but there was a correlation of 0.95 between the estimat
ed and measured values. Both estimated and measured VO2max were signif
icantly higher in the group of trained runners than in the inactive su
bjects.