Problems Associated with Cardiovascular Fitness Testing So many variables can affect the pulse rate and blood pressure that obtaining an average or typical measurement on any given day is difficult. Emotions, for example, have a noticeable effect on cardio-respiratory functions. Physicians often allow for this when they are taking a patient's pulse rate and blood pressure during a medical examination. Besides nervousness, tension, and other emotional manifestations, it has been found that temperature, time of day, exercise, changes in body position, altitude, humidity, digestion, and current state of health also may influence cardio-respiratory measurements. Also, lack of sleep, or drinking a small coke or cup of coffee can significantly elevate your pulse rate. Consequently, things that are difficult to control can significantly affect reliability and objectivity coefficients. The main influencing factors mentioned dictate that great care must be taken in the measurement of pulse rate and blood pressure. If a resting or normal pulse rate is desired, the subject should be allowed to rest for several minutes until the count has stabilized. Stabilization can be determined by the taking consecutive readings until they are similar. It has been observed that a subject's pulse rate is sometimes lower after mild exercise than when he or she first entered the laboratory. One of the foremost problems associated with cardiovascular testing is that it requires a fair amount of effort and/or work, and motivation to complete. You may have noticed that not all students have an intrinsic desire to put forth maximum effort. In fact, there are some students who every time they feel like working lie down until the feeling goes away. Consequently, motivation can be a factor in testing for cardiovascular fitness depending upon the test being used. Also many of the tests designed to measure cardiovascular fitness are impractical for use by the general public or by high schools and colleges because they require expensive equipment, trained administrators, and considerable time.
Practical Test of Cardiovascular Fitness While tests of cardiovascular fitness are numerous, only a few will be presented here…for good reason too. Many tests are too involved for use in physical education classes, or they require sophisticated equipment and trained administrators to conduct them. The tests presented here are the ones that are used most frequently by researchers and physical education instructors. Note, however, that just because a test is included in this text does not mean it is a valid indicator of cardiovascular fitness, and, in fact, some of the test presented here are invalid tests of cardiovascular fitness. Now, I know exactly what you are thinking now too, “If the tests are not valid, why even address the test in a test and measurements textbook?” Simple, so you don’t make the same stupid, dim witted, brainless mistake that many physical education instructors make every day…that is using invalid tests to measure their students’ cardiovascular fitness. In short, I want you to know what works and what doesn’t work…what tests are valid and what tests are not valid.
Maximal Oxygen Consumption Test (VO2max) Maximum oxygen consumption is the most valid method used to determine your cardiovascular fitness. Maximum oxygen consumption is an exercise test that assesses the capacity of the circulatory