Assessment and Interpretation of Anaerobic and Aerobic Capacity

Question 1

• List and describe common field-based tests for assessing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (AEROBIC GENERAL)

Answer 1

Assessing Aerobic Capacity – How?
Lab-based tests
- Measurement of VO2 max (indirect calorimetry)
- Estimation of VO2 max (estimating equations)
Field tests
- Estimate aerobic capacity/‘fitness’

Assessing Aerobic Capacity – VO2max
- Maximal rate of oxygen consumption oxygen
- Measured in L/min or adjusted for bodyweight (mL/kg/min)
- VO2 + Work Rate/Power output relationship is linear
- There is also a non-linear part = PLATEAU

Question 2

• List and describe common field-based tests for assessing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (AEROBIC TESTS - YOYO INTERMITTENT RECOVERY TEST 1)

Answer 2

YoYo Intermittent Recovery Test 1 (IR1)
- Ideal for sports that are intermittent in nature
- 40m shuttle run, 10m (10 sec) recovery
- Starts at level 5.1, finishes at level 23.8 (or exhaustion)
- VO2max (mL/min/kg) = IR1 distance (m) ×0.0084 + 36.4 (Ref 2)
- Equipment: cones, Yoyo IR1 audio, speaker, recording materials e.g. paper + pen/computer, measuring wheel
- Instructions: start on start line, run to 20m when signaled, turn on 20m when signaled, return to start when before audio signal, move to 5m recovery line, come to a complete stop on the start line (before audio signal)
- Finishing: exhaustion, 2 consecutive faults e.g. missed line before audio signal
- Advantages: easy to implement, reliable, sensitive to changes in perf
- Disadvantages: physical toll, can take up to 29 min to complete, contribution from anaerobic system

Question 3

• List and describe common field-based tests for assessing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (AEROBIC TESTS - 1.2KM SHUTTLE RUN - BRONCO)

Answer 3

• Ideal for sports that are continuous/intermittent
• 20m, 40m, 60m shuttle completed 5 times, continuously (1200m)
• Does not estimate VO2max
• Equipment: cones, stopwatch, recording materials e.g. paper + pen/computer, measuring wheel
• Instructions: start on start line, when instructed complete 20m, 40m, 60m shuttle 5 times continuously as fast as possible
• Finishing: when the athlete completes 5 shuttles
• Advantages: easy to implement, reliable, minimal equip required
• Disadvantages: cannot estimate VO2max, requires 60m field, dependent on weather

Question 4

Assessing Aerobic Capacity - M.A.S

Answer 4

Maximum Aerobic Speed
- Lowest running velocity at which VO2max occurs aka v VO2max
- Some considerations when calculating MAS from field tests: equations (can calculate max aerobic speed) = might be overestimated partly due to not being able to know where the true MAS is + where it turns over to anaerobic = however some equations do have corrections

Question 5

• List and describe common field-based tests for assessing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (ANAEROBIC GENERAL)

Answer 5

Assessing Anaerobic Capacity – How?
- Key design consideration
- Include repeated efforts to stress anaerobic metabolism*
- Efforts can range from 3 sec to 90 sec depending on the target energy system
- Individual effort perf should be measured (as time, power output) + decrease over time quantified

Key energy system considerations
- For alactic system short duration efforts (<20 sec) + long rest periods (1:>3).
- For lactic system longer duration efforts (>20 sec) and/or short rest periods (1:<2).

Question 6

• List and describe common field-based tests for assessing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (ANAEROBIC TESTS - WINGATE TEST)

Answer 6

Wingate Test
- 30 s max effort against a constant resistive load
- Load set at 7.5%-10% of bodyweight
- Results include Peak Power Output, Relative Power Output, Anaerobic Capacity, Fatigue Index
- Good test-retest reliability (r = 0.91 to 0.98)(Ref 3)
- Correlation w/ anaerobic performance tasks*
- Equipment: cycle ergometer, weighing scales, recording materials, stopwatch/timing device
- Instructions: when instructed, begin accelerating maximally + maintain speed against resistance
- Finishing: the test finishes after 30 sec
- Advantages: easy to implement, reliable, normative data available, can be used for most sports w/ anaerobic component
- Disadvantages: physical toll, equipment required

Question 7

• List and describe common field-based tests for assessing aerobic and anaerobic capacity. (ANAEROBIC TESTS - RUNNING ANAEROBIC SPRINT TEST)

Answer 7

Running Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST)
- Based on Wingate protocol, but designed to be more specific to team sport movts (running)
- Results include Peak Power Output, Relative Power Output, Anaerobic Capacity, Fatigue Index
- Significantly related to running perf over distances of 35-400m
- Equipment: speed gates, stopwatch, recording material, measuring wheel, weighing scale
- Instructions: when instructed, sprint from the 0 to 35m x 6
- Finishing: the test finishes after sprints are completed
- Advantages: easy to implement, reliable, normative data available, good specificity for field-based sports
- Disadvantages: physical toll, equipment required