Does anyone know a place in the NYC Area were they perform a VO2 Max and Lactate Blood level test and the test is covered by health insurance?
I think a University sport clinic could do this but I could not find anything specific.

Thanks

Do you know if your insurance will cover such tests? My insurance is pretty comprehensive, but VO2/lactate threshold type of sports med. tests are considered non-essential. I would need a referral from primary MD stating the need as essential (and even then I doubt they would cover it.) I work in a Med center where non-essential services are billed as self-pay or done on sliding scale.

I am not sure the insurance would cover it, but my doctor could write the referral.
I fund a place were I can pay for the test and the cost is $300, if I can I would like to find a way to pay less or nothing...

My guess is, your insurance is not going to finance you on elective stuff like this.

I would look at:

http://www.hss.edu/sports-rehabilitation-and-performance-center.asp

I've been to several of their symposiums and they really know what they're doing.

It is also worht while to check at universities that have good health and exercise programs. I had my VO2 testing done in a lab at a university here in California for about $100. The Lactic level was estimated from that, but I could have had that done as well for another 80 or so I think.

I need to get that done again...

Thank you all for the responses, I will try HSS I supsect I will have to pay the high price I was not able to find any University Sport laboratory in NYC that performs the test...I guess Columbia and NYU are not like Yale or Harward in terms of sport...

The real question is why? Aside from the cost, it's painful. None of that information will help your training. Even if you use it as a baseline, that is only useful if you go back to the same clinic for retesting.

Alpynisto wrote:The real question is why? Aside from the cost, it's painful. None of that information will help your training. Even if you use it as a baseline, that is only useful if you go back to the same clinic for retesting.

Isn't knowing one's lactate threshold HR important in cardiovascular training?

knoback wrote:
Isn't knowing one's lactate threshold HR important in cardiovascular training?

For Olympic cycling, yes, for climbing, no.[/quote]

Maybe I've been reading too much Extreme Alpinism, but I've certainly had to use my LT (or at least a guess of it) as the basis for my lactate tolerance/threshold sessions.

The test should be taken every 6 months to measure improvements and adjust the training.
Regarding the why....because cardiovascular training is better targeted if know you aerobic threshold and work on a training method to improve it.
I use to run semi professionally and I use to take the test and adjust of training to enhance my performance. For Alpine climbing you need to develop power endurance. Training your body to perform for longer time just below you AT, therefore if you train your body to reach a higher AT you can count on more speed for longer period on the mountain.
There is plenty of literature on this and besides this I have used this type of training recently even without being so scientific like I am planning to be now and the improvements were evident.

The whole concept of a lactate threshold is pretty outdated in sports science. A decade ago, it was all the rage but now they realize that lactate is not a limiter of performance and at best is a secondary measure of what is really going on. You don't need blood tests to understand and benefit from interval training. And a VO2max test really tells you nothing. If you want to be methodical, just get a good HRM that lets you download to the computer. Or just do fartleks and don't worry about all that stuff.

Alpynisto wrote:The whole concept of a lactate threshold is pretty outdated in sports science. A decade ago, it was all the rage but now they realize that lactate is not a limiter of performance and at best is a secondary measure of what is really going on. You don't need blood tests to understand and benefit from interval training. And a VO2max test really tells you nothing. If you want to be methodical, just get a good HRM that lets you download to the computer. Or just do fartleks and don't worry about all that stuff.

From my layman's understanding, what's outdated is the idea that lactic acid is the cause of fatigue, when in fact lactate is recycled for energy. However, there's still a threshold beyond which lactate production exceeds the body's ability to process it, and fatigue is associated with that threshold even though the precise cause has not been isolated from among the various things that go on at that point.

You should be able to get a rough idea of your lactate threshold just from subjective judgment of your effort level, it's been described as "comfortably hard" with fast but controlled breathing. See http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/training2.htm. It's specific to runners, but informative.

I've long suspected the VO2 max is relevant to Big Time Alpine climbers.

The normal person has a 4 -5 liter lung capacity.

http://www.seakayakermag.com/2003/03Oct/breath2.htm

Ed Veisteurs has a 7 liter lung capacity. So this may be important to deciding whether on not to drag the Oxygen cans up an 8000 meter peak. Whether you should even attempt an Oxygen free ascent. T

John Duffield wrote:I've long suspected the VO2 max is relevant to Big Time Alpine climbers.

The normal person has a 4 -5 liter lung capacity.

http://www.seakayakermag.com/2003/03Oct/breath2.htm

Ed Veisteurs has a 7 liter lung capacity. So this may be important to deciding whether on not to drag the Oxygen cans up an 8000 meter peak. Whether you should even attempt an Oxygen free ascent. T

I'm not sure lung capacity has much to do with it. My lung capacity is 7.2 liters and I am nothing special at altitude.

VO2 max does not predict good performance at altitudes. Also, just for the record, Reinhold messner only had a VO2 max of 48.8 mlO2/(kg*min).