Maximal Oxygen Consumption Test And Fitness Assessment: Lab Report

Carry out the lab tests and use the results collected to present the outcomes in a lab report format.

a)Administrate a sub maximal predictive test of VO2max (Astrand 6 minute cycle ergometer test)

b)Administrate a maximal measurement test of VO2max

c)You are required to produce a discussion section that relates your findings to the literature available.  Where appropriate you should assess the data collected in relation to other similar studies and compare with normative data for gender, age, level of sport performance/elite performance.

Field-based Fitness Assessments

Fitness forms one of the most fundamental requirements for a successful athlete. In most cases, athletes are perceived to be ever fit and give keen attention to fitness as the fitness is important to them should they need to remain competitive in the world of sports (Schwellnus, 2009, p.178). While undergoing training, an athlete is required to first perfect his fitness skills before he can be allowed to proceed with building on his techniques of the game he intends to specialize on. This calls for the need of the assessment of each of the athletes before a training session kicks off. Various methods of assessments of the fitness have been established among them field tests and laboratory-based tests of which both of them have procedures on how they are to be conducted.

Just like the case of laboratory-based assessment tests, field-based assessment is used in keeping track of the variations in the fitness of an athlete over time as well as identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the athlete (Plowman, 2013, p.155). These assessments are important in providing limelight on where there is a need for the trainer and the trainee to inject extra effort to achieve maximum performance by the athlete. That way, these assessments are important in helping the trainer to design the most appropriate training programs for the athlete.

Field tests involve the assessors of the fitness of the trainee moving to the venue where the trainee is undergoing training. It is at the training venue that the test is conducted. This makes such tests more specific to sports and thus very convenient for such games as soccer, cricket, netball and basketball. Among the field tests that are commonly carried out, include sprint tests and vertical jump tests among other tests.

these refer to fitness tests that are carried out indoors. Compared to field tests, laboratory tests should be done since they:

• are carried out in controlled environments
• can allow submaximal tests to be carried out
• give a greater insight into the strengths and weaknesses of an athlete(Reilly, 2013, p.269)

Among the most commonly performed laborarity tests include maximal oxygen consumption test, lactate threshold and gross efficiency among other tests. For this experiment, maximal oxygen consumption test was conducted, and the rsulted found recorded.  

Maximal oxygen consumption test also know as VO2 max test is a test used in the determination of the highest rate of intake of oxygen of an athlete manageable when involved in an activity that uses a lot of muscle mass. This test is important it is used in ye establishment of the measure of the overall fitness of the cardiovascular system (Narvani, 2014, p.178). This test as well helps in setting up the upper limit on the generation of energy in the form of ATP through aerobic means. This means that the higher the VO₂max of an athlete the higher the fitness levels even though this ability does not determine the level of endurance of an athlete.

Laboratory-based Fitness Assessments

When one engages in a physical exercise, it is observed that the heartbeat increases thus more blood is pumped throughout the body (White, 2009, p.251). The pumped blood is pumped together with oxygen. The more fit the body of an athlete the more the oxygen that will be pumped around the body when the athlete engages in an exercise. As the athlete engages in exercise the heartbeat in increased thereby making more blood to pump out of the heart around the body. The circulating blood carries with it oxygen hence the higher the amount of blood pumped the higher the intake of oxygen. Scientifically, while assessing fitness using this test the higher the amount of oxygen that an individual can ump into the body the higher the levels of fitness.

There are two types of maximal oxygen consumption test: maximal and submaximal tests. Maximal VO₂ is in most cases meant for professional and semi-professional athletes and are geared towards pushing the athlete to the extreme capabilities of his cardiovascular systems (Medicine, 2013, p.248). In this test, the athlete is expected to exercise to the point at which the muscles are fatigued, the point at which the athlete is unable to either run or cycle any longer.  On the other hand, semi-maximal VO₂ max testing is applied in the establishment of the levels of fitness by the manner in which the heart rate responds to a load of work or level of intensity applied during the test. Upon establishment of the values of the work load and the heart rates, it is possible for a professional in fitness to estimate the fitness level. The fitness professional can give information on the quantity of oxygen that the athlete pumps around the body at a time (Ashok, 2008, p.315).

Men

Above illustrates the maximum ergometer readings for the test done on the males. As it can be observed from the figure, the maximum oxygen consumption is approximately 76 ml.kg^-1.min^-1 while the lowest is about 40 ml.kg^-1.min^-1. From the figure, it can as well be observed that the maximum oxygen consumption does not have a common trend on sequence it follows. There is no definite pattern to one point (Jackson, 2015, p.251). The amount shoots to high values and gets lower at other points. Generally, the amount of oxygen pumped into the body of this athlete keeps fluctuating.

 illustrates the results of ergometer astrand prediction tests. This test is done in the accomplishment of the sub-maximal test requirements. As again observable from the figure, the highest amount of oxygen pumped around the body as per this test is approximately 80 ml.kg^-1.min^-1 while the lowest oxygen pumped round the body stands at approximately 27 ml.kg^-1.min^-1. From the two results obtained on the tests done on men, it is deducible that the margin in the oxygen pumped around the body between the two tests is marginal (Heyward, 2014, p.389).

Maximal Oxygen Consumption Test

This thus means that both two tests are a reliable way of determining the fitness of the cardiovascular system. Any of the two tests ill give relatively accurate results hence one can choose to use either of the tasks to determine his cardiovascular fitness. Following the strenuous nature of the maximal VO₂ test and based on the results of the tests, an upper hand can be given to the sub-maximal tests in the establishment of the cardiovascular system. Most of the men posted results of the amount of oxygen pumped around the body for the two tests at above 50 ml.kg^-1.min^-1 with the margin not being very wide (Shields, 2011, p.415).

and 4 are illustrative of the results of the same test but in this case now in females. Figure 3 shows the results of the maximum ergometer readings for the test. From the obtained results, the highest amount of oxygen pumped around the body of the female who took part in the experiment was about 84 ml.kg^-1.min^-1 whereas the least was 20 ml.kg^-1.min^-1. The margin between the highest amount of oxygen pump and the least is very big and even the second largest value is not anywhere close to the highest value. The second largest amount of oxygen pumped around the body as illustrated in figure 3 is 66 ml.kg^-1.min^-1 (Harrast, 2011, p.188). This difference could be attributed to lack of exercise among the other women. The woman with the high fitness level might have been undergoing rigorous exercise and training that have allowed the muscles of her cardiovascular system expand.

The expansion of the muscles makes them adaptive and thus able to withstand strain without being fatigued very fast. The other women experienced fatigue too soon hence their cardiovascular system was unable to pump blood around the body. This, in turn, led to less blood flowing through their body.

is on predicted astrand ergometer results. Just like in the case of men, these results are a reflection of the outcomes of the sub-maximal test. From the results posted in this test, the higher amount of oxygen pumped around the body by the women’s group was at about 68 ml.kg^-1.min^-1as compared to 21 ml.kg^-1.min^-1 which are the lowest amount pumped (Johnson, 2017, p.166). It worth noting from these results that most of the women had an oxygen pumping volume at below 30 ml.kg^-1.min^-1. This is observed in quite a good number of the women. It is deducible from the statistics that the level of fitness of the women is very low and hence their muscles are easily fatigued thereby the low recorded oxygen volume.

Results

The focus of this test is on the measurement of maximum oxygen consumption as-as measure of cardiovascular fitness. Maximal oxygen consumption relies on the maximal ability of the body to deliver oxygen. The more the oxygen is delivered, the healthier the heart and the lungs as these are the only organs involved in this process. This means that the participants who recorded higher maximal oxygen consumption values were, therefore, healthier and more sound health than those who posted fewer values (Detry, 2012, p.218). Most of the men posted higher values than the ladies hence a conclusion can be drawn that more men were healthy than ladies of those who participated in the test. On the other hand, maximal oxygen consumption is a factor of the maximal ability to extract oxygen.  This means it helps in the determination of the ability of the blood vessels of an individual to make blood available to the working muscles. It also provides a hint on how much trained the skeletal muscles are.

From the above experiment, a conclusion can thus be made that men are generally having higher maximal oxygen consumption than women (Armstrong, 2017, p.310). It can also be concluded that the amount of oxygen pumped around the body is determined the level of aerobic training that an individual has undergone.  Aerobically trained individuals can the benefit of delayed fatigue when engaging in an exercise of heavy workload to the muscles. The differences in the maximal oxygen consumption between men and women as observed in the experiment can be attributed to cardiorespiratory factors. These factors are among them the size of the heart and the maximal cardiac output (Archer, 2009, p.105). Still, the difference can be due to the large fat percentage characteristic of women than in men.

Conclusion

VO₂ max testing can be used as one of the indicators of the capacity of an individual to endure. The higher the VO₂ max, the higher the ability of a person to maintain a high VO₂ max percentage when subjected to aerobic activity. Through VO₂ max testing, the fitness of an athlete can easily be assessed and the necessary adjustments depending on his condition can be planned. Disparities in the VO₂ max values between various groups of people are determined by various factors some of which are natural while others can be controlled by the individuals themselves.

References

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