Fit Point/Cardio Point/Calorie point...worth it? (LTF)

kspeach

I belong to Lifetime Fitness, and they offer a Fit Point (free), cardio point and calorie point ($80 or so each). Cardio includes a VO2 test (not VO2max). Has anyone had these? I am going to do the fit point to see where I'm at early next week. I've read that the cardio point/VO2 test will help you find the optimal fat burning zones and more scientific max heart rate for working out.

So far, so good; I'm losing on average ~7 pounds a month over the past 6 months (which includes approx two 2-week plateaus).

Would you wait until you hit a month or longer plateau? During the plateaus, I kept at it, and although a bit disappointed, not completely discouraged. I'm planning on running a full 5K on Thanksgiving, which is my graduation from C25K week as well.

Interested in hearing opinions and if anyone has had these tests.
Thanks!!

Azdak

The test may give you some good information about your physiology--it depends on the skill of the person doing it. The people at Lifetime do an internal certification to do this job and they may or may not have an educational background in exercise physiology. They may or may not be just "going by the book". I've met several people from Lifetime who worked in these positions and their qualifications/competence did vary.

If they give a resting test, it will tell you your resting metabolism. When you are setting your daily calories, that can be helpful if it varies from the calculated value --you still have to add in casual activity and exercise, so your daily number is still an estimate, but it does give you one part that you know is accurate.

In my case, it was a moot point since my resting metabolism of 1734 calories/day matched my calculated number on MFP almost to the calorie.

The exercise test will measure your oxygen uptake up to what they call the "anaerobic threshold". This is an outdated term, but for the purposes of this test it refers to the point where you switch to using predominantly carbohydrates as your exercise fuel. It will also give you the heart rate at which this occurs.

The test results will show you your total calories burned and fat/carbohydrate mix at different heart rate levels--heart rate "zones", so to speak.

The "metabolic training" plan that they will derive from this will have a goal of training your fat oxidation system so that you burn a higher percentage of fat when you work out and you increase your fat-burning rate at higher intensities.

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, while there is helpful information to be gained from this test, that fundamental underlying part of the "training plan" is seriously flawed, based on the available research. I'll get back to that in more detail.

Let's talk about the positive first. What useful information can you get from this test? First of all, you can determine your actual calories burned at certain heart rate and intensity levels--you can calibrate those results to your HRM or machine and get a better overall estimate of calories expended. Secondly, you can get a sense of your true HR response to exercise. While they don't do a max test, by taking you to the "ventilatory threshold", you will still get a good idea if your actual heart rate response to exercise is higher or lower than normal. As intensity of exercise increases, your fuel mix will gradually shirt to a higher % of carbohydrates--by tracking this degree of change, you can get a good idea of your 65%-75% of max heart rate response and that can be very helpful.

To me, these two things are worth the price of the test all by themselves. A third thing that the test might reveal is your training pattern. For example, for me it showed that I was consistently working at high intensity and so those systems were well-trained, but my fat oxidation capacity was very low. In other words, what I thought were my "easy" days weren't very easy at all. That may or may not have implications for my training--I am exploring that right now. It may not be relevant in your case and the person giving you the test may not understand that part of it, but it might turn out to be useful.

OK, here's the downside. As I mentioned, the "training plan" that is derived from this test is going to be based on developing your "fat burning" capabilities during exercise. Basically, it's a higher tech version of the "fat burning" plan, which has been discredited for awhile now. It has shown pretty conclusively, at least in the research I have seen, that exercise training--even when it increases your fat-burning capabilities during exercise, has NO effect on long-term fat oxidation. If you take two people and one burns a lot more fat during exercise than the other, by the end of 24 hrs, they both burn the same amount of total fat. It's like whatever happens during exercise, the body compensates the rest of the day so that it ends up equal.

I've spoken to representatives of the company that makes the machine and my impression is that they are relying on a lot of old research to back their training programs, although some of their reps are starting to back away from those ideas and they are emphasizing the total calorie burn information from the test, rather than the "fat burning" part.

Given the shortcomings, some of the training programs I have seen generated from the program are not bad. They are a mix of endurance training and interval work. If you follow it, you will improve your fitness. I'm just unconvinced it will significantly affect your fat loss any more than any other training program.

So, bottom line: I think the test is worthwhile and can provide useful information. I am not convinced that the "scientific" training program that comes with it is that valid.