Need a Treadmill & Bruce Protocol Buff

LissaK1981

So I want to try the modified Bruce Protocol, but I am really confused by the grades and treadmill setting. I have a Nordic Track Viewpoint 3000. It has an incline setting range from 0.5 through 12 at 0.5 increments. I believe they are degrees of incline but not positive. So would the first part of the protocol at 10% grade be around incline setting 6? Any help would be great.

Azdak

So I want to try the modified Bruce Protocol, but I am really confused by the grades and treadmill setting. I have a Nordic Track Viewpoint 3000. It has an incline setting range from 0.5 through 12 at 0.5 increments. I believe they are degrees of incline but not positive. So would the first part of the protocol at 10% grade be around incline setting 6? Any help would be great.

Both the protocol and your treadmill use % grade as units of incline. So you will be very limited in simulating the Bruce protocol on your treadmill--unless your fitness level is low and you can only complete the first two stages.

LissaK1981

What treadmills actually go to 26% inclines then? I have never seen any go above 15.

Azdak

What treadmills actually go to 26% inclines then? I have never seen any go above 15.

Other than some niche commercial models, I believe there are a couple of "climber" treadmills that go up as high as 40% grade.

Realistically, most people can use a treadmill with 15% incline.

Bruce Protocol stages are:

1.7/10%
2.5/12%
3.4/14%
4.2/16%
5.0/18%
5.5/ 20%
6.0/22%

It's important to understand, however, that those last three stages are "hypothetical" for about 90%-95% of the population. You can simulate Stage 4 pretty well by setting the speed to 4.3 mph, and 15% (which is as high as most treadmills go).

The average person taking a graded exercise test using the Bruce protocol is doing so as an initial diagnostic screening to evaluate fitness capacity and the presence of heart disease (although I don't know how many docs rely on just a stress test anymore--usually they do at least a stress echo).

Within that population (e.g. over 40, not overly athletic), completing stage 3 would be the average you would expect, with most only lasting 30-60 sec in stage 4. Stage 4 is extremely awkward--for many people the speed/elevation combo puts them in "no man's land" between walking and running, and by then you have already beaten up your legs with 9 min of incline walking. If you are untrained, the workload is not sustainable even for a short period of time, and if one DOES have the conditioning, they often have not any specific training at that combination of speed and elevation, so localized muscle fatigue becomes the limiting factor instead of aerobic fitness level.

All of this is confounded by the fact that most clinics allow patients to hold on to the handrails--in fact many clinics INSIST that patients hold on. This bastardizes the whole process into something completely useless for assessing fitness capacity, but most docs and test techs have no idea what this means so they don't care. It is bureaucratic "risk avoidance" behavior at its finest.

So if someone is holding on, then, yeah, a fit person can go for awhile--I saw one guy get into stage 6, but he practically wrenched his arms out of their sockets hanging on for dear life.

Not sure why you want to try the protocol, or if you were interested in that much detail, but I don't get to talk much Bruce protocol anymore, so there you are.

LissaK1981

Thank you so much, all the info is greatly appreciated. I recently had my first bloodwork done and found that I am right on the cusp of pre-diabetes and high cholesterol. I have been wanting to lose weight for a while and just wanted to get kind of a starting point reference for my fitness, so later I can look back on my progress and be happy I found the Bruce protocol trying to find out info on accuracy of calorie burn on fitness tracking devices. I like crunching and tracking numbers. I hate not knowing what I am actually burning. The Bruce protocol sounded like a challenge, but now it sounds like a really hard challenge haha.

GBWITHER

Azdak and LissaK,

Azdak is correct on all his points. And they're all very well articulated. I'd like to add onto his/her response though. The Bruce Protocol is used to measure cardiac condition as a stress test. The specific thing physicians use on this test is actually disassociated with the exercise portion. The diagnostic tool they use is actually an EKG (Electrocardiogram) to measure cardiac electrophysiology and current levels as the cardiac tissue is 'tested'. As the aerobic demand of the cardiac tissue (heart muscle) increases while you walk on inclines (and as it becomes harder therefore creating more of a oxygen dependent situation) the electrical activity can and will change as demonstrated on the monitor and on paper as the EKG is printed. Specific changes in this rhythm signify certain problems. Without getting too technical, someone with good EKG recognition skills can read the EKG and tell exactly which parts of the heart may or may not be behaving normally due to oxygen demand.

As far as holding on to the bars, that's a total No-No if the test is being conducted correctly and fairly. The only acceptable time to grab handrails is when the RN administering the test is taking your blood pressure or pulse manually. And then that happens every 3-5 minutes and only takes about 25 seconds. Otherwise, you're cheating if you hold on.

I actually am currently training using the Bruce Protocol. The treadmills in my gym go up to 15% so I do the 4.3 as my last level. I am training this way for more, quicker-to-failure, higher intensity with less impact (one could argue I have a re-engineered left knee) type of exercise. Also, due to my profession, I have an annual HazMat physical with a stress test using the Bruce. It's coming up in a month or two and I want to do well as its now tied to a financial benefit for me. That test is the Bruce protocol, a body fat test, and evaluation of blood profile, vision, hearing, flexibility, lung function, and sit-up/push-up tests for a full health evaluation. Some pass perfectly. Others not so much but have found issues before they become harmful. It's scored on age and points. I've been in the excellent category for ten years but this year I'm shooting for Superior--like I said it's now a financial benefit for getting to that level. And it's a pride thing too. I'm 37 years old and I enjoy being in better shape each year. The specific reason I'm training for it this year is because of the inclined treadmill level, my calves burn like hell after about 8 minutes. That always gets me. I was 2 minutes shy of Superior last year and had to call it off at the 18% level due to my burning leg muscles. So, I'm getting them ready.

Good luck to both and thanks for the discussion!!