Sport Management students test aerobic fitness levels in the CSI Performance Lab

Released: May 1, 2024 | Last Updated: May 7, 2024

Story Community Centre for Sport and Exercise Education

Sport Management students test aerobic fitness levels in the CSI Performance Lab

The students were hosted by CSI’s Sport Physiologists, Laura Isherwood and Gayatri Raghavan. Laura took the group through a brief presentation introducing technology used to assess aerobic fitness levels in their high-performance athletes called VO2 Max testing. The data collected in this testing is used to aide in observing training adaptations, identifying maximal sustainable power, and creating training zones to get the most out of the athlete’s programming. This activity connected to lectures around performance analytics, athlete monitoring and injury prevention. Laura also shared strategies with students for options that could fit the needs of non-endurance and lower-level sports/athletes who may have limited access to this type of technology.

“This was a great way to get to see, experience and carry out a lot of the concepts and examples that have been discussed in lectures,” says Simon Cass, SPMA instructor. “We are very fortunate to have such great partners/neighbours with CSI and thankful for the Laura and Gayatri’s valuable time, especially with the Olympic Games only a few months away. They’re very busy preparing our national teams for a great performance.”
 
A CSEE student from each section volunteered to perform the testing for each group. After describing the steps to the process, Laura then broke students into teams and gave them different observation duties to learn first-hand how the data Is collected, and why. The test volunteer warmed up on the treadmill before moving over to the VO2 Max station where testing is performed on a stationary bike with the subject connected to a variety of sensors and equipment.