BACKGROUND: Direct estimation of VO
$_{2}$
max
involves labourious, exhaustive, hazardous, time consuming and expensive
experimental protocols. Hence, application of various indirect protocols for
prediction of VO
$_{2}$
max has become popular, subject to
proper population-specific standardisation of the indirect protocol.
OBJECTIVES: Application of Fox (1973) protocol in male sedentary
university students of Kolkata, India led to premature fatigue in their leg
muscles that hindered the muscular activity leading to inability in completing
the exercise. The present study was aimed at modifying and validating the Fox
(1973) protocol with a convenient workload of 110 W (i.e., modified Fox test or
MFT) in the said population.
METHODS: Ninety (90) sedentary male students were recruited by
simple random sampling from the University of Calcutta, India and they were
randomly assigned into study group (n=60) and confirmatory group (n=30).
VO
$_{2}$
max was directly estimated by Scholander micro-gas
analysis after incremental bicycle exercise. Predicted
VO
$_{2}$
max (PVO
$_{2}$
max) was computed from
MFT by using the submaximal heart rate (HR
$_{sub}$
).
RESULTS: In the Study Group VO
$_{2}$
max (2216.63
± 316.77 mL.min
$^{- 1}$
) was significantly different
(P< 0.001) from PVO
$_{2}$
max (3131.73 ± 234.32
mL.min
$^{-1}$
) measured by using the equation of Fox (1973).
Simple and multiple regression equations have been computed for prediction of
VO
$_{2}$
max from HR
$_{sub}$
and physical
parameters. Application of these norms in the confirmatory group depicted
insignificant difference between VO
$_{2}$
max and
PVO
$_{2}$
max with substantially small limits of agreement and
lower values of SEE.
CONCLUSION: The modified regression norms are therefore recommended
for use in MFT for accurate assessment of VO
$_{2}$
max in the
studied population.
