{"id":745,"date":"2017-01-03T01:13:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T06:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/?p=745"},"modified":"2017-01-12T01:16:41","modified_gmt":"2017-01-12T06:16:41","slug":"vo2-max-round-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/2017\/01\/03\/vo2-max-round-1\/","title":{"rendered":"VO2 Max: Round 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, we went to the physiology lab at the University of Arizona to perform our baseline VO2<\/sub> max tests.<\/p>\n

We began with a lecture by Doug Keen, a physiology professor at the university. He outlined the three main pathways of ATP production in the body, and then taught us about VO2<\/sub> max testing, which measures the efficiency of the aerobic oxygen system in particular. VO2<\/sub> max is the maximum volume of oxygen that can be consumed by the body\u00a0during intense exercise. It varies with age, sex, conditioning and altitude.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Arizona faculty member Doug Keen guiding EP students in the VO2max test<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The VO2<\/sub> max test involves three stages: measurement of resting VO2 <\/sub>during one minute with the subject seated, measurement during walking at 3.0 mph, and measurement during increasingly strenuous exercise, up until the VO2<\/sub> level plateaus, i.e. reaches its\u00a0max. In our case, we increased the grade of the treadmill on which we were running by two percent every two minutes until exhaustion.<\/p>\n

There were four\u00a0additional factors that were indicators of\u00a0whether an individual has reached his or her\u00a0max VO2<\/sub> level other than the measurement of VO2<\/sub> itself. They are the rating of perceived exertion (RPE), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), heart rate (HR), and blood lactate. The RPE is a scale from 1-20 that is called out\u00a0by the individual based on how hard they think they\u2019re working. A value of 20 indicates that they have reached their VO2<\/sub> max and cannot continue\u00a0any longer. The RER is measured by dividing the CO2 <\/sub>production by O2<\/sub> consumption, and is an indication of which substrate an individual is using to fuel exercise, as well as whether hyperventilation is occurring. The maximum RER value is 1.15. \u00a0A person\u2019s maximum heart rate (beats per minute) can be estimated\u00a0by subtracting their age from 220. Finally, a\u00a0blood lactate measurement\u00a0of at least 8.0 mmol\/L indicates that the max VO2<\/sub> level was reached.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Practically speaking, the look on one’s face is also a pretty good indicator of when\u00a0VO2\u00a0max has been reached!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, Casey set a record for Extreme Physiology VO2<\/sub> max, at about about 67 ml\/min. Kyle came in second for the class, at about 63 ml\/min.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kyle, prepping for his VO2max run.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the VO2<\/sub> max test, we immediately had our finger pricked to draw blood to measure\u00a0hematocrit and hemoglobin (Hb) and blood lactate concentration. Hematocrit is the proportion of the blood volume taken up \u00a0by red blood cells. The normal range for men is between 38.8% and 50%, and the normal range for women is between 34.9% and 44.5%.\u00a0To perform a hematocrit, blood was collected in a capillary tube and centrifuged. The resulting tube had three layers; from most dense (lowest) to least dense (highest) they were composed of red blood cells, white blood cells + platelets, and plasma. Hematocrit is calculated by dividing the height\u00a0of the red blood column\u00a0by the total sample column height. Hemoglobin concentration and blood lactate are both measured by collecting a drop of blood into a pipette and placing it into an analyzer. The normal range for hemoglobin concentration in\u00a0men is 13.8 –\u00a017.2 g\/dL; and the normal range in\u00a0women is 12.1 –\u00a015.1 g\/dL. A\u00a0normal resting blood lactate concentration\u00a0for both men\u00a0and women\u00a0is about 1 mmol\/L. However, since we were assessing whether\u00a0\u00a0VO2<\/sub> max had been reached, we were looking for values above mmol\/L.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Lizzie collecting and compiling hematocrit data<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After all the VO2<\/sub> max tests were completed, Dr. Sweeney gave a lecture about hematocrit and the effect of altitude on hematocrit levels. At high altitudes, hematocrit increases and dehydration may occur if water intake is not increased, because more urine is produced. For about 90 days after living at high altitude, the hematocrit levels will be elevated compared to baseline at lower elevation levels.<\/p>\n

Once we were all done at the lab, Geena, Lizzy, Brian, Dave, and Cameron and I explored the downtown U of Arizona area and stopped for coffee at a combination coffee shop\/hookah lounge. We also bought some U of A apparel at a school store, and tried\u00a0to get into one of the many stadiums at the university. We walked into part of a basketball practice, which was the highlight of Brian\u2019s day. Meanwhile, Kyle and Casey went for a very ambitious run to find a gym. We got a new van, but it wasn\u2019t as good as the old van. After a delicious dinner of salmon, string beans, and brown rice, we tested out our bikes for our ride the following day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, we went to the physiology lab at the University of Arizona to perform our baseline VO2 max tests. We began with a lecture by Doug Keen, a physiology professor at the university. He outlined the three main pathways of ATP production in the body, and then taught us about VO2 max testing, which measures … Continue reading VO2 Max: Round 1<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-2017-blogs","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":756,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions\/756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/extremephysiology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}