VO2max Can Be Accurately Predicted in American Football Athletes from Treadmill Exercise Time

Abstract

IntroductionPrediction models for estimating maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) from treadmill exercise time are lacking for American‐style football (ASF) athletes. Models developed from non‐athletes have not been tested in ASF players.PurposeWe proposed to develop a model to estimate VO2max from exercise treadmill time in ASF athletes, and compare our Football model against the Foster (AHJ, 1984) and Bruce (AHJ, 1973) prediction equations.MethodsBetween 2003 and 2017, 472 collegiate ASF athletes (age 18 ± 1 yr, height = 186.1 ± 8.2 cm, weight 101.8 ± 20.4 kg) underwent treadmill exercise to maximal voluntary exhaustion (Bruce protocol) with VO2 measured (M‐VO2max) by means of an automated metabolic gas analysis system. Treadmill exercise time in minutes (T), as used in the Foster and Bruce equations, was used to predict M‐VO2max. For cross‐validation purposes, the 472 participants were randomly divided into Validation and Cross‐validation groups, n=236 for each group, using a random number generator. Linear regression was used to identify the predictive power (r2) in both groups. Independent t‐tests (with a Bonferroni adjusted α) and repeated measures ANOVA were used to test for differences between the two groups, and for differences among M‐VO2max, Foster, Bruce, and our Football estimates of VO2max. An α = 0.05 was used for all statistical tests.ResultsThe Validation and Cross‐validation groups were not statistically different on any variable measured (p range = 0.454 to 0.941). Equations to estimate VO2max (mlO2.kg−1.min−1) were: Validation group VO2max = 4.012 * T −4.628 (r2 = .678, .001, SEE=4.07); Cross‐validation group VO2max = 4.025 * T – 4.693 (r2 = .661, .001, SEE‐4.16). These equations had a cross‐validation coefficient = 0.813 and a double cross‐validation coefficient = 0.823. Since no measured variables were different between the two validation groups, all athletes were combined to yield our final prediction equation: Football VO2max = 4.017 * T – 4.644 (r2 = 0.670, .001, SEE = 4.11). Estimated Football VO2max was not different from M‐VO2max (mean difference −0.002, p = 0.989). Foster and Bruce VO2max estimates were significantly different from M‐VO2max (mean difference −0.975, p = 0.001 and 1.995, p = 0.001, respectively) and from Football VO2max (p = 0.001).ConclusionVO2max of collegiate ASF athletes can be accurately estimated by our Football prediction equation using maximal treadmill exercise time as the predictor variable.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.