33 replies to this topic Post Order

[Chubba]

Morning,

Can anyone recommend a good sports doctor that will be able to do the full battery of testing on me - VO2 max, muscle biopsy etc.
Got hold of Mr. Swart, but he is a little pricey at close to R700 just for the initial consultation. Bike fit and testing all additional.

This is in the Cape Town area.

[MTB_Roadie]

Chubba, on 09 January 2012 - 09:34 , said:

Morning,

Can anyone recommend a good sports doctor that will be able to do the full battery of testing on me - VO2 max, muscle biopsy etc.
Got hold of Mr. Swart, but he is a little pricey at close to R700 just for the initial consultation. Bike fit and testing all additional.

This is in the Cape Town area.

Unfortunately that is the price....I used Ben at Sport Science, but was also around R700 for VO2Max test...etc. If you see the time they put in, processing a report afterwards of 10 pages, I understand the price.

[obree]

First question to ask yourself is What does all this new info mean to me? There are other ways of finding out applicable info.

[Chubba]

obree, on 09 January 2012 - 09:41 , said:

First question to ask yourself is What does all this new info mean to me? There are other ways of finding out applicable info.

Although I have been training fairly hard, I don’t see any great improvements. I still cramp regularly and loose muscle power (fatigue) very quickly.
I would like to understand if I have any deficiencies, diet/mineral/vitamin, if I have to train my muscles in a certain way (more gym/strength training -or even more cycling) etc.
I know a part of it will come down to genetics, but I would still like to have a clearer picture.

[Sharkie 2]

obree, on 09 January 2012 - 09:41 , said:

First question to ask yourself is What does all this new info mean to me? There are other ways of finding out applicable info.

Otherways to determine your VO2 max and LT exactly? To be able to train more scientifically and keep on improving without the methods the sport doctor or bio's use?

Its normally R700 for a 6-12 week program so it really isn't that expensive

Edited by Sharkie 2, 09 January 2012 - 09:55 .

[obree]

A simple 20min field test will give you a very good indication of your threshold, then base zones on this data and do the appropriate sessions to improve.
When you test at a facility, your monthly test must also be done at the same facility, so its an ongoing expense.
An easy way to find out if you have fast or slow twitch muscles is to look at the calves, big calves= fast twitch. What sport did you do at school? Long distance or sprints? You would at that young age naturally excell in the event that your muscle type is appropriate for.

After doing a muscle biopsy and finding out you have fast twitch are you going to suddenly switch and become a track sprinter??

Go to your local GP and ask him/her to take blood and run a host of tests, that will answer your questions regarding defiencies.

hence my question What do you want to do with the info?

[DaleE]

Chubba, on 09 January 2012 - 09:34 , said:

Can anyone recommend a good sports doctor that will be able to do the full battery of testing on me - VO2 max, muscle biopsy etc.
Got hold of Mr. Swart, but he is a little pricey at close to R700 just for the initial consultation.

Try Jason Suter at Constantiaberg - is a sports doc. 021 7624914 No idea of what they charge for this sort of thing.

BTW: I did a bike fitting with Renay Goustra (uses Jeroen Swart's formulation) and it made a noticeable difference to climbing ability.

Dale

[Chubba]

DaleE, on 09 January 2012 - 08:43 , said:

Try Jason Suter at Constantiaberg - is a sports doc. 021 7624914 No idea of what they charge for this sort of thing.

BTW: I did a bike fitting with Renay Goustra (uses Jeroen Swart's formulation) and it made a noticeable difference to climbing ability.

Dale

Thanks Dale, will give him a call tomorrow.

[capeofstorms]

Hi,

Train smarter not harder. I know of sub vets chalking out sub 3 that haven't done a Vo2Max test. Get yourself a coach and see your results improve.

Also if you overweight, lose the love handles and see improvements instantly

[obree]

The problem with us cyclists is we like to spend lots of money and use hi-tech equipment. Thats the reason its nice to go somewhere to have things measured, plus we get to tell all our mates.

I have had all these tests done at the University, Conconi,LT, V02Max. The resulting training zones are exactly the same as when I do a 20min test myself.

[Lucky Luke.]

obree, on 10 January 2012 - 06:41 , said:

The problem with us cyclists is we like to spend lots of money and use hi-tech equipment. Thats the reason its nice to go somewhere to have things measured, plus we get to tell all our mates.

I have had all these tests done at the University, Conconi,LT, V02Max. The resulting training zones are exactly the same as when I do a 20min test myself.

Out of interest, what is the 20 minute test you are doing? 20 minute TT with a power meter and HR, or something else? Not everyone has a power meter (me for example) and I appreciated the data I got from UCT sports science when I volunteered there.

[Kona Kula]

I am also quite curious what the plan is once you have been tested. I had all these tests done when I was rowing. Had them done many times, lactate Vo2. Honestly though I have never used any of the results. The only result i have ever used is my max HR which is easy enough to find out when you doing ergo trials. I am not saying it doesn't have a place, just wondering how much value it will add to your training? And it is expensive.

[obree]

Lucky Luke., on 10 January 2012 - 08:05 , said:

Out of interest, what is the 20 minute test you are doing? 20 minute TT with a power meter and HR, or something else? Not everyone has a power meter (me for example) and I appreciated the data I got from UCT sports science when I volunteered there.

What info did they give you? Max HR,LT ?
Do the test with your HR monitor and base the zones on that info.

There is an overlap of zones so if the result is not 100% accurate it does not matter as the zone will cover it. ie my FTP is 300w so zone 4 will be from 90% -105% 270w - 315w If I go to the Uni and do a test on their equipment, pay R1000.00 for the 1 hour session and get a result of 310w (perhaps due to the added adrenalin from doing the test in front of someone). Now my zone 4 is 279w - 325w See the overlap!!
The bottom line is do a test of sorts, then base your zones on this info, train, do exactly the same test in 1 month, see the improvement.

[Lucky Luke.]

obree, on 10 January 2012 - 08:45 , said:

What info did they give you? Max HR,LT ?
Do the test with your HR monitor and base the zones on that info.

There is an overlap of zones so if the result is not 100% accurate it does not matter as the zone will cover it. ie my FTP is 300w so zone 4 will be from 90% -105% 270w - 315w If I go to the Uni and do a test on their equipment, pay R1000.00 for the 1 hour session and get a result of 310w (perhaps due to the added adrenalin from doing the test in front of someone). Now my zone 4 is 279w - 325w See the overlap!!
The bottom line is do a test of sorts, then base your zones on this info, train, do exactly the same test in 1 month, see the improvement.

We did several 40km TT's and Ramp tests, VO2 Max and a plenty of sub max tests. From that we got FTP, VO2 Max, Max Power, accurate HR zones and Max HR, as well as our times for the 40k TT's. It was interesting to compare these to the times the pros had done who had been tested there.

The sub max tests were interesting in terms of finding out where you are fatigue-wise, and I've continued to do these on my own.

Obviously it was all free as we'd volunteered in response to an ad placed here by Ben Capostagno.

Edited by Lucky Luke., 10 January 2012 - 12:39 .

[maddox]

DaleE, on 09 January 2012 - 08:43 , said:

Try Jason Suter at Constantiaberg - is a sports doc. 021 7624914 No idea of what they charge for this sort of thing.

BTW: I did a bike fitting with Renay Goustra (uses Jeroen Swart's formulation) and it made a noticeable difference to climbing ability.

Dale

When I went to Jason 6 months ago he didn't have a VO2 max system - although he said they were investigating it. Jason is definitely a "generalist" sports doc and while I like him I think Jeroen or anyone else at Sports Science who have a keen interest in cycling are going to be much better. I can't see Jason being any cheaper than SSI.

[SwissVan]

obree, on 09 January 2012 - 11:18 , said:

A simple 20min field test will give you a very good indication of your threshold, then base zones on this data and do the appropriate sessions to improve.
When you test at a facility, your monthly test must also be done at the same facility, so its an ongoing expense.
An easy way to find out if you have fast or slow twitch muscles is to look at the calves, big calves= fast twitch. What sport did you do at school? Long distance or sprints? You would at that young age naturally excell in the event that your muscle type is appropriate for.

After doing a muscle biopsy and finding out you have fast twitch are you going to suddenly switch and become a track sprinter??

Go to your local GP and ask him/her to take blood and run a host of tests, that will answer your questions regarding defiencies.

hence my question What do you want to do with the info?

Good post Dr Obree

One question: Big calves = fast twitch? How accurate is that statement?

Hell here's me thinking for the last 20 years that I dont have a fast twitch fibre anywhere in me....