Matters Of The Heart

400m HURDLERS CLEAR A BIG BARRIER TO DISCOVER THEIR MAXIMUM OXYGEN CAPACITY AS JOHN SHEPHERD TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT VO2 MAX TESTING

- John Shepherd

FOUR-HUNDRED metre hurdlers have a great capacity to maintain and produce energy as they power round the oval and over 10 barriers. AW went to find out how two exponents, Alex Hill (PB 60.87) and Tyri Donovan (PB 52.81) fared when they had a VO2max test at the Centre for Health and Human Performance (CHHP) on Harley Street. Both athletes are coached by Marina Armstrong. It also seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a close look at one of the most vaunted of all physiological tests.

What is a VO2 max test?

Your heart and lungs are the engine of your cardiovascular system. Oxygen is taken into the body and fuels exercise (as well as a great deal more).

How much you can take in and use and for how long is a key determinant of your level of cardiovascular fitness and endurance ability.

A VO2max test pushes you to your maximum exercise intensity and then determines your cardiovascular output. It measures how many millilitres of oxygen your heart and lungs can process per kg of body weight in one minute. The higher the score, the bigger your aerobic capacity (although as we shall see there’s a lot more to it than that).

Why is it important?

Every single athletic event has an aerobic component. In the case of a 100m sprint, it’s not very much, maybe 5%, with the rest of the energy being supplied anaerobically (without the need for oxygen). Move up to the marathon and it’s basically 95% aerobic and 5% anaerobic. Knowing what your VO2max is and then seeing it develop through appropriate training can indicate that you are doing the right training (VO2max can improve by as much as 30%).