The Prediction of &Vdot;o2max: A Comparison of 7 Indirect Tests of Aerobic Power

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of 7 commonly used indirect VO2max tests to those of a direct VO2max test in a constant subject group. Thirty subjects (15 men, 15 women) that were 18 to 35 years old participated in the study. All subjects performed the following tests in ran- dom order: direct VO2max treadmill test; max Bruce and 85% Bruce treadmill tests; Astrand-Ryhming and heart rate ex- trapolation cycle ergometer (CE) tests; Leger shuttle run; 1.5- m run; and the Canadian Aerobic Fitness Test (CAFT) step test. Within subjects, there were no significant differences between the predicted VO2max values and the direct VO2max values obtained (p # 0.05). For the women studied, all pre- dictive tests except for the CAFT had a validity coefficient of 0.80 or greater to the direct VO2max test. For this reason, the present study found 6 of the 7 predictive tests to be valid for women 18 to 35 years old. Despite errors of ,10% in all predictive tests except for the CAFT, validity coefficients were low for the data from the men's group, rendering it inconclusive. Overall, for testing women, the maximal Bruce treadmill test and the Astrand-Ryhming CE test were found to produce the least amount of error with the highest validity coefficient.