Worth getting my metabolic rate and VO2 max measured?
My new gym (Lifetime Fitness, just opened around here) has some tests they do with some magical machine that purport to tell me my resting metabolic rate and my VO2 max (anerobic threshold?).
I want this information... but I haven't the foggiest clue if the machinery they would use is accurate enough to be worthwhile.
The machines themselves can give pretty decent results, however it depends on who is working them. There are a lot of factors you have to take in in order to get correct results and there is always a margin for some human error.
The VO2 Max test is pretty cut and dry. You get hooked up to an breathing mask and basically run your butt off Make sure to eat well about 90 mins before hand a solid serving of complex carbohydrates.
The RMR test is a little more tricky than that, or should be anyway.
You can not get a correct RMR done sitting in the middle of the gym, midday after a large meal you just had. In short everything you do can lead to raising the output level or your metabolism from eating, being nervous, walking, smoking, etc. So if you are going to get that test done you need to do it as close to waking up as possible, before eating anything, and the environment they test you in needs to be as calm and relaxing as possible.
If all that is followed then your results should be in a much closer margin.
That being said if you get the test done remember that is your RMR, not what you burn in a day. Any activity you add to that raises your metabolic rate.
IF it's free, then by all means it's an interesting experience at least. If they are charging you and you are not an athlete then I would say it's not worth your money. I guess the real question is what would you like to get out of it? Also if you do decide to do it ask if they have their procedure written out for both tests and then we can always give you an idea about the validity, because as Leigh P. said if they perform the tests at the same time then one will be skewed because you can't eat or exercise for 4 or 8 hours before the RMR test.
-Ned
I'd ask about the price. I've seen this at Lifetime. It's not cheap. You have to buy a special mask and then pay for the test. Then they want you to get a heart rate monitor as well-- and possibly tack on a few personal trianing sessions to make sure you're using them all correctly. And, a few months down the road, they'll want you to retest. I believe it ends up a being a few hundred for the test and mask alone.
Leigh - They do the test first thing in the morning after a 12 hour fast and 24-48 hours without exercise. They also put you in a quite room not on the gym floor.
Otto - Don't buy the tests. The only time an RMR assesment is worth it is if you are already tracking calories and using a calorie equation and not seeing the changes you should be seeing. Too many people buy test and either don't use it (because they aren't tracking calories) or don't need it (because it comes out very close to the predicted).
For sure don't get a MAP test (the VO2 max). It isn't really even a VO2 test, its an Anaerobic threshold test. The only people who would ever get any use out of this assesment is an endurance athlete looking to properly train under anaerobic threshold and become more efficient at using fat stores at higher heart rates. For the average person its worthless and comes with 12 weeks of really crappy programing. Its straight old school fat burn zone aerobic work. So I repeat, DO NOT BUY A MAP TEST.
Mom2w - One test and mask is $140 (99 for the test 40 for the mask) if you buy two tests at once the price drops to 89 per test. The mask is a one time fee. And you got it right on the heart rate monitor and PT.
By the way, this isn't just the ranting of a bitter former employee, I am a current Personal Trainer at Lifetime Fitness. In fact not just a trainer but a Lead Staff and I still think this stuff sucks. I just don't sell any.
If anyone has anymore questions about Lifetime feel free to ask or PM me and I will tell you how it really works...until they fire me for reading this.
Danny
__________________
Limitations are for people who have them.
Leigh - They do the test first thing in the morning after a 12 hour fast and 24-48 hours without exercise. They also put you in a quite room not on the gym floor.
That's great to hear, we do not even have any Lifetime gyms around here but the gyms that do offer the service locally here are pretty flawed in their technique. So like I said, the actual test itself is fine, just a lot of degree for human error on the part of the tester and on the testee.
With anything the true key is what gets your results and take any calculation or test as merely a starting point.
I'd second most of what Danny said (working at Lifetime as well, although in a different department). The RMR test is useful only if you have well plotted out your kcals and exercise and aren't seeing the results you want. I fall into this category (although my test was not done at LTF): my RMR is extraordinarily low (1400 kcals in the winter, 1700 in the summer) and so I needed to quantify why I was not losing fat at 2000 kcals a day.
The MAP test is useful if you are an endurance athlete to confirm when you go anaerobic and what your optimal HR is during endurance work. It also shows you how far your optimal is from your anaerobic - in elite athletes, they can optimally burn fat all the way up to when they go anaerobic; in less conditioned athletes, there is a rapid drop off in efficiency. They give you a neat graph to see this - not necessary, but interesting if you are an endurance athlete.
If you are a regular spinning participant there and the instructors follow the Zone chart, it would be fun to know what your individual zones are, but not necessarily needed. Since I work there as a spin instructor, I get the MAP test for free and it already confirmed what I knew from years of riding a bike with a HR monitor - my personal estimate of when I go anaerobic was only 1 bpm different than the test result. Otherwise, like Danny said, it is straight old-school fat buring zone stuff - useful if you are grossly deconditoned as a motivator, but otherwise not so much.
The reason the MAP test is not a VO2 max test is that liability requires them to cut it off when you begin to go anaerobic. Now, if you are a conditioned athlete, this sucks because you can hold a low anaerobic pace for a relatively long time (I can sit at 5-10 bpm above my anaerobic for a number of minutes). The interesting stuff really happens once you go anaerobic, but the crappy lawyers ruin it for us again.
The reason the MAP test is not a VO2 max test is that liability requires them to cut it off when you begin to go anaerobic. Now, if you are a conditioned athlete, this sucks because you can hold a low anaerobic pace for a relatively long time (I can sit at 5-10 bpm above my anaerobic for a number of minutes). The interesting stuff really happens once you go anaerobic, but the crappy lawyers ruin it for us again.
This isn't totally true, at least not at my LTF. You can check a little box to do a VO2 Peak assessment which allows us to crank it up and the liability is all on you. Ask your tech about this, because they should do a peak on you...or come to MN and I will do it for you
Danny
__________________
Limitations are for people who have them.
Ironically, all the discouragement has made me want it more.
I do track calories. It's the only way I've found that actually seems to work for me. But even then I end up having to eat 2500, which makes me brain-dead and doesn't lose as much as I ought to, according to the various estimate formulas.
I've been doing the spin class for a few weeks now, I intend to keep it up. I also want to do a tri, so the AT info isn't a complete waste.
At the end of the day, do I need the test? Nah. I'd classify it under entertainment/luxury/whatever. I still haven't made up my minds, but you guys have helped a bunch.
This isn't totally true, at least not at my LTF. You can check a little box to do a VO2 Peak assessment which allows us to crank it up and the liability is all on you. Ask your tech about this, because they should do a peak on you...or come to MN and I will do it for you
Danny
Won't do it in ours or any of the Chicago area ones. I asked, and since I work there, if they'd let anyone do it, it should be me. But they wouldn't. Maybe liability laws are less strict in MN because every lawyer I have talked to said those 'hold harmless' clauses are easy to get around if you can show they should have shown better judgement - and the VO2 max is one where they expose themselves to massive liability because of the strenuous nature of the test (Danny: "He looked healthy.... how was I to know he'd suffer an aortic aneurism?" )
I'd be surprised if MN doesn't change that policy soon. I'm very surprised they do it.
Worth getting my metabolic rate and VO2 max measured?
Make sure to eat well about 90 mins before hand a solid serving of complex carbohydrates.
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