VO2 Max Tests

Hi,

Does anyone know anywhere in Bedfordshire (or close to) that will do VO2 Max tests etc?

Many thanks.

The university of Bedfordshire has just opened a sport science facility, see here.

If you contact the department you may be able to get yourself tested as part of a student dissertation because now is about the time they'll start doing their testing. Otherwise, to have a treadmill test separately will probably be quite expensive

Sorry to hijack the thread but I was thinking about this recently myself. Santy, any idea how much these things cost to get done commercially? Or alternatively look at getting involved in some sort of study in the London area??

Phil - I'm not sure how much they cost commercially, but I'd estimate around £100ish. Your best bet is to get in touch with some Universities which run sport science courses and volunteer yourself as a test subject. A lot of testing will be going on at the moment for undergrad dissertations and trust me, they're ALWAYS desperate for volunteers. I had no end of problems getting subjects for my VO2max tests.

Failing that, the beep test can be used to predict VO2max, although it's very inaccurate. If you play sports such as football, squash etc then it's reasonably accurate. If you only do middle / long distance running, then from what I've read in published articles and from my own research you need to add about an extra 10ml/kg/min to your score.

I'll have a look at what uni's in the London area do sport science and put another post up in a minute.

Much appreciated, thanks! I did a quick google and yes, £100 sounds about right. Apart from saving some dosh though, I think I'd like to be a guinea pig in a study. :)

From a quick search, places in the London area which will have sport science departments are:
Brunel, University of East London, University of Greenwich, Kingston University, London Metropolitan University, London South Bank, Middlesex University, St Mary's College

Yeah be a guinea pig, it's much more fun. Some of the department research projects for PhD's and other funded ones will even pay you to take part! Although it's not a lot for a lot of hard work.

Excellent, cheers! I'll do some ringing around. Training for a marathon is blimmin' hard work anyway, so I'm sure I can fit it in as a hard session somewhere.