Reliability of VO2Max estimated in treadmill running by heart rate reserve and power output

Abstract

The objective was to determine the reliability of the VO2Max estimate on a treadmill using the measured (HRpeak) vs. the predicted (HRpredicted) maximum heart rate (HR). Eighteen men (27.5 ± 7.1 years, 73.7± 12.6 kg, 174.8 ± 10.2 cm) performed, in the first visit, a progressive test to determine the HRpeak. In the two following visits, submaximal aerobic tests were performed on a treadmill with a 6 min at 75% HR reserve. VO2Max was estimated by means of the equations of HR, VO2 reserve and the ACSM running equation. The intraclass correlation coefficient and the typical error of measurement using HRPredicted and HRpeak were 0.89, 2.43 ml.kg-1.min-1 (5%) and 0.83, 2.43 mL.kg-1.min-1 (4.9%), respectively. There was no significant difference (t test) between the estimates of VO2Max from the HRpeak and HRpredicted. The use of the HRpredicted was considered appropriate for VO2Max estimation, with a small typical error of measurement.