*This is an old blog posted several years ago, but we’ve updated and re-posted as this topic has arisen recently with coached athletes.
The key to using sports science testing to assess and to monitor progress, is to keep it simple, avoid the smoke and mirrors bullshit and pick out the important bits. The critical part is then applying that to the training plan, in a simple manner. Completing a VO2 test can give you some simple and practical measurements such as aerobic & anaerobic threshold (or whatever we’re calling them these days), fuel use and oxygen economy. We regularly carry out a simple cycling VO2 testing protocol which involves a maximal step/ramp test on the watt bike. Included in the same visit, we complete a 10 second maximal test sprint to measure maximal force. You’d think that the 2 tests are not related as they measure very different things, but that’s not the case.
The VO2 maximal step/ramp test is very simple. Ride the watt bike and start at 150 watts. Then every minute increase by 20 watts, whilst maintaining 85rpm. Do this until failure and the last full minute is the ‘maximal aerobic power’ score. If you do this wearing a mask and measuring oxygen use, we can also calculate thresholds, fuel and oxygen usage.
We also do a 10 second maximal sprint test, although we’re not actually measuring it for 10 seconds. We’re only interested in the peak you can hit within the 10 seconds. Most people hit a peak within a few seconds then fade before they reach 10 seconds, the peak is the score we record, so we’re looking for absolute maximal force. Both the aerobic and the maximal sprint test are calculated as ‘watts per KG’ which means that we divide the actual score by your body weight, to give a fair figure, irrelevant of body size.
They’re 2 different tests, but they’re still related
What’s shown below is the tests completed by coached triathletes in the last month (42 total). It shows the correlation between maximal sprint power (the highest peak reached in a 10 second sprint) and the VO2 / aerobic ramp test score. What’s important to understand here is that the sprint test is measuring the absolute maximal force you can generate, the VO2 / aerobic ramp test is measuring your aerobic capacity. So ‘physiologically’ these are 2 very different things and you’d be forgiven for thinking that they’re not related.
So to explain what we’re looking at below, on the Y / vertical axis is the VO2 / aerobic ramp test score. On the X / bottom axis is the maximal force /power score within the 10 second sprint test. From our experience of amateur athletes, 13 watts per kilo is an average / decent score for the maximal sprint and I’d estimate that 4.5 would be a similar standard for the VO2 / aerobic ramp.
So, first of all, if we ran a statistical test, the correlation WOULD NOT be significant as you can see the scores are pretty widespread, but there is a pattern. The best fit line suggests that your maximal force in a sprint test, may influence how you will perform in a VO2 / aerobic ramp test. Whilst the 2 things are physiologically poles apart, force production is part of cycling performance, so it’s fair to assume there may be a relationship.
Look at high performers circled in red, who scored above 5 watts per kilo on the VO2 / aerobic ramp test. They all have very high sprint power scores, above 15 watts per kilo. Everyone who scored above 5 watts per kilo on the VO2 / aerobic ramp test, had a maximal force / sprint score of 14.5 or higher, well above the average. It’s fair to assume that your maximal force / power will therefore in some way, impact your score on the VO2 / aerobic ramp test.
Who are the other people?
In simple terms, what we see from the graph is that those above the ‘average line’ perform better in the aerobic test, than they do in the sprint test. Those below the average line perform better in the sprint test, than they do in the aerobic test. If you look at those circled in blue, they have very high sprint power scores, but comparatively lower aerobic test scores. A classic example of this is the rugby player or gym goer, who takes up triathlon. They have lots of force production / sprint power, but aerobic capacity is limited. For these people, doing high intensity intervals is probably pointless, they simply need to develop aerobic economy and their sprint power will never be a ‘limiter’.
The opposite would be those above the line, a classic example here is a runner who takes up cycling. Runners tend to have good aerobic ability, but they lack the simple leg strength to generate a high sprint power. Runners will therefore often favour a small gear and higher cadence, but are less capable of pushing a ‘big gear’ and generating high force.
There are of course those people in the middle, who are balanced in both aspects and would therefore benefit from both approaches. We should also put this into context by stating that whilst you need to be able to generate a high maximal force to score highly on the VO2 / aerobic ramp test, the ramp test is still only a 10 minute maximal test. If you’re racing longer distances, a 10 minute VO2 / aerobic ramp test whilst being a part of the jig-saw, does not mean you can ride 100 miles at a strong and consistent pace.
You can probably build a picture of yourself by looking at 4 basic things such as:
- Maximal force for 10 second sprint
- Peak score in a VO2 / aerobic test
- What you can sustain for a decent period (such as 25 mile TT performance)
- How you handle longer rides at moderate speeds, such as Ironman bike distance.
Those 4 things give you a really good start point and an honest view of your strengths and weaknesses. It’s also fair to say that you could probably apply a similar process to other sports. Your 25m sprint speed in the swimming pool will influence your swim time over 400m and upwards. Your 50-100m running speed will influence your 5k time (see recent blog about ASR).
The solution to any one of those things is far more simple than it’s often made out to be. Keep it simple and the results will come. The above test results also support the polarised approach, couple aerobic fitness with absolute maximal sprint output and your VO2 score will be off the chart.
Regards
The Endurance Coach
We offer coaching from £40 per month for triathletes and runners. We also offer lactate threshold and VO2 Max testing with consultation for £60, to help you better structure your training. Find details on the menus above.