Review articles  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2002 September;42(3):257-66

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

General review of maximal aerobic velocity measurement at laboratory. Proposition of a new simplified protocol for maximal aerobic velocity assessment

Berthon P., Fellmann N.

From the Laboratoire Performance Motrice, UFR STAPS Université Blaise Pascal, Aubière Cédex, France *Laboratoire de Physiologie et Biologie du Sport Université d’Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, Cédex, France

The max­i­mal aero­bic veloc­ity con­cept devel­oped ­since eight­ies is con­sid­ered as ­either the min­i­mal veloc­ity ­which elic­its the max­i­mal aero­bic con­sump­tion or as the “veloc­ity asso­ciat­ed to max­i­mal oxy­gen con­sump­tion”. Different meth­ods for meas­ur­ing max­i­mal aero­bic veloc­ity on tread­mill in labor­a­to­ry con­di­tions ­have ­been elab­orat­ed, but all ­these spe­cif­ic pro­to­cols meas­ure Vamax ­either dur­ing a max­i­mal oxy­gen con­sump­tion ­test or ­with an asso­ci­a­tion of ­such a ­test. An inac­cu­rate meth­od ­presents a cer­tain num­ber of prob­lems in the sub­se­quent use of the ­results, for exam­ple in the elab­ora­tion of train­ing pro­grams, in the ­study of repeat­abil­ity or in the deter­mi­na­tion of indi­vid­u­al lim­it ­time. This ­study ana­lyz­es 14 dif­fer­ent meth­ods to under­stand ­their inter­ests and lim­its in ­view to pro­pose a gen­er­al meth­o­dol­o­gy for meas­ur­ing Vamax. In ­brief, the ­test ­should be pro­gres­sive and max­i­mal with­out any ­rest peri­od and of 17 to 20 min ­total dura­tion. It ­should ­begin ­with a ­five min­ ­warm-up at 60-70% of the max­i­mal aero­bic pow­er of the sub­jects. The begin­ning of the ­trial ­should be ­fixed so ­that ­four or ­five ­steps ­have to be run. The dura­tion of the ­steps ­should be ­three min ­with a 1% ­slope and an increas­ing ­speed of 1.5 km·h-1 ­until com­plete exhaus­tion. The ­last ­steps ­could be ­reduced at two min­ for a 1 km·h-1 incre­ment. The max­i­mal aero­bic veloc­ity is adjust­ed in rela­tion to dura­tion of the ­last ­step.