Northern Arizona University

Physiological Testing

All athletes want to improve. All athletes want to, in the spirit of Citius, Altius, Fortius (the Olympic motto) go faster, jump higher, and be stronger. All athletes want their training to show results and receive some type of objective confirmation that their hard work pounding the track and long hours in the pool have paid off. Physiological testing is a way of providing this confirmation.

Physiological testing provides a benchmark of fitness level in a highly-controlled lab environment. In the lab there are no wind conditions, there is no heat or cold to contend with, and it is much easier to control the environment in order to produce results that can be consistently compared. By comparing such results, athletes, coaches, and sport scientists can get a clear picture of not only an athlete's physiological capabilities, but also how his or her body is responding to external stressors, such as those found at altitude and in everday training sessions.

The Center for High Altitude Training provides the most common kinds of physiological tests for endurance athletes, run by highly-trained exercise physiologists in a structured lab setting. The primary testing venue for physiological testing is NAU's Clinical Exercise Research Facility, located in the Lab Science building on NAU's north campus, a 5-minute walk from the training center. Through a partnership with the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences, training center staff collaborate with exercise science faculty in the Department of Biology to provide testing capability. Running tests are conducted on a 10 ft x 2 ft custom treadmill. Cycling ergometers are also available if needed. A secondary testing site is located on south campus in the university's Physical Therapy Department.

Aerobic Profile and VO2max tests are conducted as follows:

Three or four 5-minute sub-max efforts are performed by the athlete, with expired-air samples collected to provide the aerobic demand (VO2) of each effort. There is about a two-minute rest between the sub-max tests and a five-minute rest following the final sub-max bout, which is immediately prior to the VO2max test.

The VO2max test begins with the subject exercising at the same intensity as was used in the final sub-max work-bout. In a treadmill test, the first minute of the max test is run at zero% grade, and prior to the start of each additional minute, the grade is increased by 1% until the runner feels unable to continue for an additional minute, at which time the test is terminated.

If a test is run on a track or in the pool, the max test also starts at the final sub-max speed, and speed of exercise is increased slightly each minute thereafter until voluntary exhaustion. The total duration of max tests is typically between five and eight minutes.

When blood lactates are measured, that is done immediately after each sub-max effort and two minutes after the end of the max test.

Heart rates are taken during the final 30 seconds of all sub-max and max tests..

Regression equations relating exercise intensity and any of the variables monitored, will provide data necessary to determine training speeds (for easy, threshold-intensity, interval-intensity, and repetition training sessions) and all data stored for comparison with any previous or future tests that are run.

NAU Institutional Review Board:

Based on approval by the NAU Institutional Review Board (IRB), physiological testing data may someday be used in research conducted by Jack Daniels at the Center for High Altitude Training at Northern Arizona University. This approval was granted on May 1, 2008 and will expire on May 1, 2009.

All Subjects must provide written consent for data to be used in this manner. Appropriate consent forms bearing the IRB stamp will be provided by the center and must be signed and submitted prior to testing. They include:

-Informed Consent Form (Adults)

-Assent Form for Research Involving Minors (Minors)

-Informed Consent Form for Parents (Minors)

To begin the process of scheduling a test, please fill out the Physiological Testing Request Form.