Listen guys, these VO2 max tests are not expensive. They require a bicycle
ergometer with a wattage output, and you need to wear a heart rate monitor.
Prior to the test, you should already know your maximum heart rate, since
several points of power output need to be correlated against different
percentages of max HR.   If you are very high in bodyfat, and you do little
in the way of aerobic exercise, there is a very bogus 220 minus your age
formula, that a trainer in the gym you get tested in, can approximate your
max HR with. I would add, this is a poor predictor of an individual's max
heart rate---it only looks good when averages for a large population are
used, so for your own individual purposes, you would be far better off
knowing your REAL max heart rate.  Again, if you are out of shape, you can't
go out and try to exert until you reach max HR---you may have a heart
attack!
You could have a cardiologist take you to as close as he feels you can get
to it, safely, in a stress test.
For the aerobically trained divers that want to know their max HR, you need
to get on a road bike or an exercise bike with a heart rate monitor, and do
a "10 minute interval", which you could also call a "Time Trial", since that
is what you are simulating. You want to ride a the very fastest pace you can
maintain over the first 9 minutes, without hitting system shutdown from high
lactate levels, and then in the last minute, progressively increase your
speed to the absolute maximum exertion you are capable of---ultimately, if
you were racing a bike in a time trial, you would be so exhausted in
crossing the finish line, that you would nearly fall off the bike
unconscious ( only a slight exaggeration here). At the end of a 25 mile time
trial ( for 24 miles I'll average a HR of 194, then begin gradually
increasing to way over my aerobic limit, ultimately into a pure anaerobic
state ) , I'll hit 207 beats per minute, and I'll have tunnel vision, I'll
see spots, and I won't feel particularly happy. I'll feel nausea from blood
lactate levels so high, the lactic acid has diffused through my entire body,
even the digestive system.  This is the effect you want at the end of the
time trial---it will be very close to your real maximum heart rate. If you
do not have a very fit aerobic system, from training it 3 or more days per
week, for months or years, this will be dangerous---max heart rate
conditions occur in competitive athletes in many competitions, but
relatively sedentary people can not safely do this---its up to you to figure
out where you fit in, and if your not sure, go to the cardiologist, or just
have a trainer in your gym use the bogus max HR formula on you.
If you do this entirely in a gym, your costs for the VO2 max test should be
anywhere from free to a high of around $50, depending on the staff of the
gym you use. If you go to a Cardiologist---obviously I can't predict the
cost of your stress test. The heart rate monitor could be borrowed from
someone you know, but I would recommend the purchase of a Polar Pacer or a
Polar Favor, heart rate monitor, by ANYONE serious about fitness training.
You can get them at pro bike shops, or online at
http://www.lickbike.com/i3193050.htm     for $138 for Pacer, less than $90
for the Favor( just one site of many I pulled up with a Hotbot.com search)

Hope this helps,
Dan




>Me too, maybe, if someone could define reasonable.
>
>Lee
>
>On Thu, 19 Mar 1998 06:09:00 EST CAPTZEROOO <CAPTZEROOO@ao*.co*> writes:
>>Can we arrange for equvilent testing in NYC. ??
>>
>>I am willing to pay a reasonable amount
>>
>>Captain Zero
>>(a fat man)
>>--
>
>_____________________________________________________________________
>You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
>Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com
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>
>

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