A thousand words about running fitness tests
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20883/jms.344Keywords:
aerobic exercise, anaerobic exercise, cardiopulmonary exercise, physical fitness, running, VO2Abstract
Running is undertaken for different reasons, including improvement or maintenance of health and fitness. Many tests are employed for the estimation of the fitness in runners. In this review, we describe five field tests (Cooper test, Conconi test, 6-Minute Walk Test, 20-meter Multistage Fitness Test, and Harvard Step Test) and one laboratory cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) on a treadmill. A properly selected fitness test may help to estimate or measure the maximal oxygen consumption (VO2), thresholds for the aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, or restitution after the exercise. Such information is used for planning the training process, monitoring the progress of physical fitness or predicting the target distance or speed during competitions. In patients with cardiovascular or pulmonary diseases, this information may help to plan the intensity of daily activity or physical rehabilitation. Testing physical fitness is challenging, however when made appropriately, it delivers valuable physiological and clinical information.
Downloads
References
American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2013 Mar 4.
Plowman SA, Smith DL. Exercise physiology for health, fitness, and performance. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007.
Caspersen CJ, Powell KE, Christenson GM. Physical activity, exercises, and physical fitness: definitions and distinctions for health‑related research. Public Health Rep. 1985;100:126–131.
Mackenzie B. Performance evaluation tests. London: Electric World plc, 2005.
Guazzi M, Adams V, Conraadas V, Halle M, Mezzani A, Vanhees L, et al. EACPR/AHA Joint Scientific Statement. Clinical recommendations for cardiopulmonary exercise testing data assessment in specific patient populations. Eur Heart J. 2012;33:2917–2927.
Guzik P, Malik M. ECG by mobile technologies. J Electrocard. 2016;49:894–901
ATS Committee on Proficiency Standards for Clinical Pulmonary Function Laboratories. ATS statement: Guidelines for the six‑minute walk test. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2002;166:111–117.
Kilding AE, Aziz AR, Teh KC. Measuring and predicting maximal aerobic power in international‑level intermittent sport athletes. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness. 2006;46:366–372.
Cooper KH. A means of assessing maximal oxygen intake: correlation between field and treadmill testing. JAMA. 1968;203:201–204.
Grant S, Corbett K, Amjad AM, Wilson J, Aitchison T. A comparison of methods of predicting maximum oxygen uptake. Br J Sports Med. 1995;29:147–152.
Rikli RE, Jones CJ. The reliability and validity of a 6-minute walk test as a measure of physical endurance in older adults. J Aging Physical Act. 1998;6:363–375.
Jenkins S, Cecins N, Camarri B, Williams C, Thompson P, Eastwood P. Regression equations to predict 6 minute walk distance in middle‑aged and elderly adults. Physiother Theory and Pract. 2009;25:516–522.
Holland AE, Spruit MA, Troosters T, Puhan MA, Pepin V, Saey D. et al. An official European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society technical standard: field walking tests in chronic respiratory disease. Eur Respir J. 2014;44:1428–1446.
Mänttäri A, Suni J, Sievänen H, Husu P, Vähä-Ypyä H, Valkeinen H, Tokola K, Vasankari T. Six-minute walk test: a tool for predicting maximal aerobic power (VO 2 max) in healthy adults. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging. 2018;38;1038–1045.
Singh SJ, Puhan MA, Andrianopoulos V, Hernandes NA, Mitchell KE, Hill CJ, et al. An official systematic review of the European Respiratory Society/American Thoracic Society: measurement properties of field walking tests in chronic respiratory disease. Eur Respir J. 2014;44:1447–1478.
Ramsbottom R, Brewer J, Williams C. A progressive shuttle run test to estimate maximal oxygen uptake. Brit J Sports Med. 1988;22:141–144.
Leger LA, Mercier D, Gadoury C, Lambert J. The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness. J Sports Sci. 1988;6:93–101.
Taddonio DA, Karpovich PV. The Harvard step test as a measure of endurance in running. Res Quart. 1951;22:381–384.
Brouha L, Health CW, Graybiel A. Step test — a simple method of measuring physical fitness for hard muscular work in adult men. Rev Cand Biol. 1943;2:86–91.
Cotten DJ. A modified step test for group cardiovascular testing. Res Quart. 1971;42:91–95.
Ryhming I. A modified Harvard step test for the evaluation of physical fitness. Arbeitsphysiologie. 1953;15:235–250.
Tokmakidis SP, Léger LA. Comparison of mathematically determined blood lactate and heart rate “threshold” points and relationship with performance. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1992;64:309–317.
Siconolfi SF, Garber CE, Lasater TM, Carleton RA. A simple, valid step test for estimating maximal oxygen uptake in epidemiologic studies. Am J Epidem. 1985;121:382–390.
Fitchett MA. Predictability of VO2 max from submaximal cycle ergometer and bench stepping tests. Br J Sports Med. 1985;19:85–88.
Kusy K, Zieliński J. Aerobic capacity in speed-power athletes aged 20–90 years vs endurance runners and untrained participants. Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports. 2014;24:68–79.
Zinner C, Sperlich B, Wahl P, Mester J. Classification of selected cardiopulmonary variables of elite athletes of different age, gender, and disciplines during incremental exercise testing. Springerplus. 2015;4:544.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 Małgorzata Kowalska, Marcin Fehlau, Maciej Cymerys, Przemysław Guzik
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2019-03-13
Published 2019-09-30
