A few weeks back at work I received an email that certified trainers were coming over to the building to complete fitness assessments, which will ultimately give you your "body age." What peaked my interest was that they were going to do a VO2 max reading, so I emailed back and got a spot.What was interesting is that it said that this was a test done at rest. I've never done a VO2 max test, but know that typically for cyclists, it's done on a bicycle with slowly increasing resistance over time until physical exhaustion/failure. So, that reading below may be a little off, but oh well.
The body age I got from the tests was below my "real" age of 31, but not as low as in the photo above.
For the past few years I've had some issues with my systolic pressure (the upper number) of my blood pressure reading. It's typically in the mid 120s to 130s, but on Thursday afternoon it was 140 which is basically "high blood pressure." The day before it was 122. The trainer suggested looking at the DASH diet. I will, but my diet is pretty darn good, I think.
My VO2 max wound up being 56.8. According to the chart, over 56 is elite, but somehow the program put me in the "excellent" category. You have to remember that all of these are comparing me to the "average" population, so my cycling has put me above average, but no where near top cyclists. For reference, I think Lance's VO2 max is in the mid 80's.
The strength test was interesting. It was basically a bicep curl, but you stood on a scale and you pulled up on the pulley with the handle and pulled as hard as you could for 5 seconds. I was kind of proud of the strength one to be honest given my twice a week 20-30 minute gym workout.
Flexibility speaks for itself. I don't consider myself extremely flexible, but I think my cycling has caused me to focus more on stretching my hamstrings.
Body fat, hmmm. I was a little surprised it was this low. I don't know why, but I was thinking it would be more like 7-8%. For guys, 3% is the essential fat your body needs to function. 5% is pretty darn good and I feel healthy, not too skinny. I definitely don't starve myself, I just eat smart and exercise.
All the tests took only about 40 minutes. The result was a "body age" of 22 years old. Not bad at 31. I think the second recommendation is absolutely hilarious...increase my VO2 max from 56.8 to 57 and I could decrease my body age by a year. Really, that small of a change and you get a whole year?
For the past few years I've had some issues with my systolic pressure (the upper number) of my blood pressure reading. It's typically in the mid 120s to 130s, but on Thursday afternoon it was 140 which is basically "high blood pressure." The day before it was 122. The trainer suggested looking at the DASH diet. I will, but my diet is pretty darn good, I think.
My VO2 max wound up being 56.8. According to the chart, over 56 is elite, but somehow the program put me in the "excellent" category. You have to remember that all of these are comparing me to the "average" population, so my cycling has put me above average, but no where near top cyclists. For reference, I think Lance's VO2 max is in the mid 80's.
The strength test was interesting. It was basically a bicep curl, but you stood on a scale and you pulled up on the pulley with the handle and pulled as hard as you could for 5 seconds. I was kind of proud of the strength one to be honest given my twice a week 20-30 minute gym workout. 
Flexibility speaks for itself. I don't consider myself extremely flexible, but I think my cycling has caused me to focus more on stretching my hamstrings.
Body fat, hmmm. I was a little surprised it was this low. I don't know why, but I was thinking it would be more like 7-8%. For guys, 3% is the essential fat your body needs to function. 5% is pretty darn good and I feel healthy, not too skinny. I definitely don't starve myself, I just eat smart and exercise.
All the tests took only about 40 minutes. The result was a "body age" of 22 years old. Not bad at 31. I think the second recommendation is absolutely hilarious...increase my VO2 max from 56.8 to 57 and I could decrease my body age by a year. Really, that small of a change and you get a whole year?I agree with the first recommendation about my systolic blood pressure. It's part genetic for me along with my cholesterol which is slightly high (not tested here).
So, all in all it was fun to get the fitness assessment done and interesting to see the results.
My cycling training has basically been crap this week. I was drained from this weekend and have been tired all week. I tried to do intervals on Wednesday, but they weren't so hot. I wound up riding the hill I planned, but not really doing intervals up it: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2485988
I didn't have time on Thursday to do anything on my trainer because we went to go see "Road to Roubaix." Discussing that is for another time, but overall decent movie, but I wish it showed more footage from the races and what it's REALLY like in the trenches and on the cobbles.
I did 30 minutes easy on the trainer tonight just to loosen my legs up. Tomorrow we have a team CAT 4/5 "mandatory" ride followed by getting the team kits ready for distribution to the team.
I'm not sure how the practice race is going to go on Sunday. We'll see!
2 comments:
dude that is really cool, i want to do a fitness assessment!
sorry i've missed your calls - will call you this week...
Toon!
Hope things are well!
Post a Comment