You’re not alone in your plight and I’ve written about this before. Maybe someone can find the link to the forum post.

maxVO2 is all the rage in the labs. They by a canned program that comes with their Cardio Coach or other device. They can turn the test to a low skilled operator who only has to turn it on and turn it off. These devices have dropped a lot in price recently and are advertised as another revenue stream for labs and clubs. High return on investment.

If the lab is confused by the term Aerobic Threshold don’t waste your money. maxVo2 tests often are ramped up in intensity too fast with each stage being occasionally as short as 15″. The aerobic metabolism is quite slow to respond to changes in intensity. Stages less that 3 min are unlikely to give you an accurate assessment of your aerobic systems response. Your aerobic metabolism will be playing catch up for the full test and the balance of the energy demands will be being met anaerobically. That’s not a huge (but still flawed) deal if all you want to see is maxVO2. They don’t want you to become fatigued during the run up of the test before reaching max or you won’t achieve your highest max.

Ask how long are the stages. Less than 3 min is not going to be very helpful. Ask how long you can warm up. The aerobic system needs a long warm up to get it firing on all cylinders.

I don’t have any experience with labs in S FL.

Scott

Thanks @Scott for all the information provided regarding the lab test. In order to reduce the confusion and possibly save money and time, what questions one should be asking and what to look for the correct answers, so one finds the correct lab for the testing?

Once again thanks

I found a lab here in Australia run through the local university. More likely to be run by people with an actual exercise physiology background and not salespeople looking to get as many people through to make money. I was talking to the guy running my test and he brought up the research on elite XC skiers spending 90% of their training time below aerobic threshold that I remember reading about in TFNA. That being said I’m curious about the home lactate meters, do you have any experience with this machine?

Accutrend® Plus System

I did a bit of research into blood lactate testers a year or two ago.

– Roche / Accutrend is a high-quality medical device manufacturer, and you likely can’t go wrong. They do not sell blood lactate testers in the United States (or at least not without a prescription) but do in other parts of the world. They sell blood glucose testers, but similarly only as regulated medical devices for diabetes.
– I purchased a Nova Biomedical Lactate Plus tester. This is available on lactate.com. I purchased directly from the manufacturer (https://lactateplusmeter.com/index.php/). It has worked quite well.
– I’ve only followed a warmup / 3-minute run / increase by 0.5mph protocol, and a similar 3-minute-interval protocol on a rowing ergometer. Perhaps there are better protocols to consider, per Scott’s first reply above?