at a fast pace produces metabolic rates up to

eight times the resting value, while in relatively ,

slow running the energy expenditure may ex-
ceed the resting rate as much as 10 times or
more, This explains why most “normal” people
usually become quickly exhausted when “in a
hurry”: 70 to 80 per cent of an adult male
population attain cardio-respiratory limitation
at energy expenditures of 10-11 Mets (Mets =
multiples of the basal metabolic rates).

On the other hand, the possibility for alter-
ing metabolic rates deliberately within the
range of functional competence by either going
faster or slower makes running and/or walking
an ideal test activity, The test subject, asked
to run a given distance or a given length of
time, has only to adjust his pace for optimum
performance. The most critical factor for ob-
taining an optimum pace and useful test results
appears to be the distance or the length of time
an individual has to run: if too short, most of
the work will be done in oxygen debt; if too
long, fatigue and slipping motivation will affect
the test results. A sufficient time interval is
essential, permitting either a steady pace at the
functional crest load or an alternating pace, in
which the aerobic component, when running
too fast, is compensated for by adequate recov-
ery in slowing down.

In some of our studies on the phvsiological
effects of physical conditioning the observation
was made that the improvements in physical
working capacity not only became apparent in
treadmill or bicycle ergometer performance,
but also in the performance of running two
or three miles. The correlation between these
performances was so close that a prediétion of
either one appeared possible after the other had
been established. Experimental efforts were
made, therefore, to investigate these correla-
tions in more detail and to establish the pro-
cedure of a running test for the evaluatioh of
“physical fitness” under field conditions, /

PROCEDURES AND METHODS

1, The oxygen requirements for running at’

different velocities were determined on a
horizontal treadrgill, The male subjects used
in this study were accustomed to running as
a non-competitive exercise for physical con-
ditioning. Measurements ‘of the respiratory gas

exchange were made during the third, fifth, and
seventh minute of each run in order to deter-
mine the steady state values for oxygen intake.
Whenever, in these investigations, the oxygen
intake ceased to increase with higher running
velocity, the value of Vo obtained was not
utilized for establishing the aerobic require-
ments of running,

2, At the end of a 10-week training period,
in which most of the physical conditioning con-
sisted in running and walking, work capacity of
eight male subjects was determined on the
treadmill, using the procedure of gradually
increasing work as previously described.”
Then, each individual ran for the duration of
1, 5, 12, 20, and 30 minutes on different days,
attempting to cover the greatest possible dis-
tance in each run. For each of these runs the
average velocity was calculated and, in turn,
expressed in the physiological term of oxygen
requirement, The latter was compared with
the value for maximum oxygen intake obtained
in the treadmill test with the purpose of estab-
lishing the closest correlation between running
and treadmill performance.

3. In the previous experimental series a
comparison of treadmill against running per-
formances was made in trained subjects, In
this series nine other adult males, untrained
and of sedentary living habits, served as sub-
jects in similar testing procedures, first on the
treadmill and then in a two mile run, The
average velocity in the latter run was, again,
expressed in amounts of oxygen required per
unit of time and compared with the maximum
oxygen intake determined in the treadmill test.

4, The same procedure was employed in a
study of 34 high school boys, with the exception
that'the duration for the running test was set
at 15 minues and the boys were asked to do
their best in trying for the greatest distance
within that time.”

In all running ‘tests the subjects started sep-
arately and spaced at certain time intervals.
They were told to start relatively slowly and to
settle, after two'or three minutes, into a pace
they thought ‘suitable for covering the entire
distance. They were also told to slow down
or to walk in case of serious muscular or respir-
atory disturbances but to resume running at
a faster pace after sufficient recovery,

-~2-

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time lag in proper functional adjustments, a cer-
tain amount of oxygen debt is carried along
through the entire working period. The cardio-
respiratory adjustments require time periods
of J to several minutes, the so-called “warm-up”
time. In work, beginning at the level of crest
load or with an over-load, proper functional
adjustments do not catch up with the demands
and, in time, incapacitating symptoms of dysp-
nea and/or muscular inadequacy force ter-
mination of work. The duration of work, in
such a case, depends on the individual’s ability
to tolerate the accompanying pains and dis-
comforts which become more and more intensi-
fied with growing oxygen debts,

These considerations of the aerobic and an-
aerobic phases of work capacity are quite
essential for the establishment of a useful field
test of physical fitness, In Fig, 5 an attempt
is made to illustrate the role of the oxygen
debt capacity for the performance of exercises
requiring near all-out efforts for time intervals
from 1 to 15 minutes, It can readily be seen
that a very short effort, e.g., running 100 yards
in 10 seconds, is accomplished almost entirely
anaerobically; during a four-minute run the
oxygen debt capacity covers about 20 per cent;
during an 8-minute effort still about 10 per cent
of the total oxygen’ requirements. However,
in work periods exceeding 12 to 15 minutes,

the anaerobic phase becomes less and less
important for the accomplishment of the total
work, accounting for not more than about 5 per
cent of the totally required amounts of oxygen.

Since only the assessment of the aerobic
work capacity is useful as a realistic measure
of the potentially available functional reserves,
the duration of a physiologically meaningful
field test should be at least 12 minutes. The
experimental results of the reported investiga-
tions practically confirmed the validity of these
more theoretical considerations: namely, the
best agreement between the objective criterion
of work capacity, obtained in a complex lab-
oratory test, and the comparable criterion esti-
mated from a field test liable to be affected
by subjective factors was found when the dura-
tion of the running test was between 12 to 20
minutes. One would expect that the running
performance should be slightly inferior to the
treadmill performance: the normal man, almost
entirely deprived of the privilege and oppor-
tunity to use his very own mile-eating tools, is
inclined to hold back in unfamiliar exerting
efforts extended over a relatively long period
of time. Amazingly, in the experiments re-
ported here, the expected differences in test
results were negligible despite the fact that in
many cases the motivation for the running
tests was rather low. Contrary to expectation,

TOTAL OXYGEN REQUIREMENTS

100
2 80 t
Sz ‘ i
2 i
835+ 60 .
ge
38 j AEROBICALLY SUPPLIED
= 3 St 40
E < ) *
a 20 wee
@
ANAEROBIGALLY | 5
°
012345 0 15

OURATION ‘ OF , RUNS IN MINUTES |

Ficure 5: The relative role of anaerobic and aerobic oxidation for supplying the total
% amounts of oxygen required during best-effort runs of defined time intervals.
These total oxygen requirements were calculated for actual -unning performances

of an individual having a Vo maximum of 36 I/min and an oxygen debt

capacity of 3 liters,

-7-



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of gradually
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and, in turn,
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een running

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running per-
subjects, In
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was, again,
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the exception
test was set
asked to do
test distance

RESULTS

1, Figure 1 presents the results of the first
series of experiments designed to establish the
relationship between running velocities and
their energy costs expressed in oxygen require-
ments. Although the relatively few experiments
reported in the literature and the compilation
of their data by Henry” suggest that this rela-
tionship follows a curvi-linear pattern (see
Fig. 2) there was evidence, from experiments
carried out by Astrand with high school boys,
that the amounts of oxygen required for velo-
cities between 133 m/min, (5 m.p.h.) and
about 290 m/min, (11 m.p.h.) were linearly
related to the running performances, Our re-
sults, obtained from five adult male subjects
(see Fig. 1), were, practically identical with
those obtained by Astrand (see Fig. 2), This
identity of results encouraged the use of these
established curves as a base for the estimation
of oxygen requirements for all the running veloc-
ities determined in the following investigations.

2, The experiments designed to establish the
duration or length of a run which may yield a

AGE
‘SUBN. YEARS
@e so
+c 38
x E $0
AG 38
oH 26

WOg . ml/min
8
\

performance criterion equivalent to that ob-
tained in an accepted treadmill test are sum-
marized in Table 1, Age, body weight, and
maximum oxygen intake of the eight subjects
are presented in addition to the average veloci-
ties attained in the five runs of different dura-
tion. A comparison of the estimated oxygen
expenditures for these runs with the maximum
oxygen intake capacity established on the tread-
mill revealed that the treadmill results could
be matched with the results obtained in runs
of approximately 10 to 20 minutes duration.
Only in runs of such a duration did the indi-
viduals settle down to an average pace which
reflected most closely their aerobic work ca-
pacity. During one minute of running, as the
figures show, a major portion of work was
done anaerobically, and even in a 5-minute run
a great part of the performance was accom-
plished in oxygen debt. Running longer than
20 minutes, on the other hand, resulted in a
performance inferior to that on the treadmill,
averaging about 9 per cent below the maximum
capacity for oxygen intake,

WEIGHT

tg

4.0
68.5
8
67.5
02.5

125 iso 178s

¥

200 «225280 278 300

RUNNING ‘VELOCITY IN METERS PER MINUTE

Ficune 1: Oxygen intakes during “steady state” running on a treadmill at various velocities.

-3-



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Correlation 710%

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3 35 40 oid 50 35

max VOp in mi/kg/min during treadmill test

Ficure 3: Values of maximum intake attained in treadmill tests were correlated with values
of V, estimated for the average velocities attained in a two-mile run.
2

Ne 9
EB sot AGE = 31,5 (29-36) yeors
H WEIGHT = 79.6 hg (72.0-89.8) yt
2s PERFECT CORRELATION
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max VO, In mi/afmin during treodmitt test’

ia ,

Ficure 4: Values of “maximum” Vo_ estimated from treadmill performance, were correlated
with values of Vo estimated for the average velocities attained in a best-effort
run of 15 minutes duration.

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A SIMPLE FIELD TEST
FOR THE ASSESSMENT
OF PHYSICAL FITNESS

E.R.A.U. LIBRARY



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there were a few cases in which the actual
running performance exceeded considerably the
performance predictable from the treadmill re-
sults, The explanation of this discrepancy is
rather simple: the routine treadmill test is
usually halted when the subjects attain heart
rates of 180 to 190 per minute. Most people
reach the peak of aerobic work capacity around
such heart frequencies and the termination of
work at this point prevents undesirable over-
stressing of the subjects, However, beside indi-
viduals who have definite limitations of work
capacity at lower heart rates — and those are
readily picked up in the treadmill tests and
pose no problem in the running — there are
many, especially in the younger age brackets,
who can still work aerobically at heart rates of
200 per minute and more, These subjects, in
a running test on their own, set their pace
according to their subjective sensation and
judgment, In performing better than expected
they display more realistically the potentially
available cardio-respiratory and otherwise im-
portant functional reserves,

Rating the performances — as suggested in a
previous report’ — as poor, average or fair,
good, very good, and excellent according to
maximum oxygen intake capacities of 30-35,
35-40, 40-45, 45-50, and 50-55 ml of oxygen
per kg per minute, respectively, 70 per cent
of all the subjects utilized in this study achieved
the same classification in both the treadmill and
the running test, 10 per cent rated one level
lower, but 20 per cent one level higher in the
running test.

Approximately 1500 more individuals,.most of
them Federal Aviation Agency employets, have
been subjected to the 15-minute running test
during the last two years with gatisfying results,
The test was also recommiendéd to people who
wanted to evaluate their state of physical fit-
ness and its changes due to training, alterations
in weight, disease, and other factors, f

v

rr

SUMMARY

1, Within the range of aerobic work capacity
a practically linear relationship exists between
running velocities and oxygen requirements per
unit of body mass.

2. The maximum oxygen intake attainable —
the most adequate criterion of work capacity
— was determined in a standardized treadmill
test and then compared with the oxygen re-
quirements estimated for average velocities
achieved in best effort runs over various dis-

|

tances, The performances in runs of 12 to 20 -

minutes duration, expressed in amounts of re-
quired oxygen, matched the objectively meas-
ured aerobic capacity most closely.

3. Based on these findings, a field test for
the assessment of physical fitness was estab-
lished which employs a 15-minute run — around

or along known distances — at best individual.

efforts. From the accurate distance and time
measurements the average velocity in meters
per minutes was determined and converted into
the physiologically meaningful value of equiva-
lent oxygen requirement. In a “best effort” this
value represents very closely the aerobic work
capacity and permits a rather objective rating
of physical fitness,

REFERENCES

1, Henry, F. M. The oxygen requirement of walking and
running, Research Quarterly 24: 169, 1953.

2, Balke, B. The effect of physical exercise on the meta-
bolic potential, a crucial measure of physical fitness.
Chapter in: Exercise and Fitness, The Athletic Institute,
Illinois, 1960.

3. Balke, B. and,R. W. Ware. An experimental study of
“physical fitness” of Air Force personnel. U. S. Armed |

Fbrees Med. J., 10: 657, 1959.

4. Astrand, P. O. Experimental studies of physical working
capacity in relgtign to sex and age. Munksgaard,
Copenhagen, 1952.



3, In this experimental series, the maximum
oxygen intake (in m1/kg/min) attained by nine
sedentary individuals during the treadmill test
was correlated with the oxygen consumption
estimated from the average velocity during a
2mile run, The results are plotted in Fig. 3:
In seven out of nine subjects the performance
criteria for both tests checked within a range
of + 5 per cent, and only in two subjects was
the running performance about 7 per cent lower
than the treadmill performance. On the aver-
age, both tests rendered practically the same
results when expressed in terms of peak oxygen
uptake,

4, The group of 34 high school boys had an
average maximal oxygen intake of 43.6 ml/kg/
min in the treadmill test. Asked to run 15
minutes on an oval track and to cover the
greatest possible distance during that time, the
boys averaged a velocity which required an
oxygen intake of 44.4 ml/kg/min. The indi-
vidual data are plotted in Fig. 4. Most boys

VO> Ia mi/ min

stayed well within the acceptable range of + 10
per cent deviation from the perfect correlation.
A few boys performed better in the running
test than was predictable from the objective
treadmill data. An explanation of this rather
unexpected phenomenon will be attempted in
the following discussion,

DISCUSSION

The state of physical fitness can be assessed
by determining an individual's potential capac-
ity for high energy demands or, more simply
said, by determining his working capacity.
Total work capacity is made up of two phases:
the aerobic phase, in which the oxygen supply
to the working tissue covers adequately the
requirements, and the anaerobic phase, in which
oxygen requirements exceeding the aerobic ca-
pacity are met by the body’s ability to incur a
certain amount of oxygen debt. Aerobic con-
ditions prevail for all work intensities below the
level of “crest load” although, because of a

Errno, nezs

wo, 79 // 200

subjects involved.

Ficune 2: Oxygen requirements for running,

2250289278300
RUNNING VELOCITY IN METERS PER MINUTE

,

as determined by various investigators; data
compiled by Henry‘, dealing with total oxygen intakes for velocities given in
feet per second, were converted into Vo in ml/kg/min for velocities in meters
per minute by assuming an average body Weight of 70 kg for all the experimental

-~5-


A SIMPLE FIELD TEST FOR THE ASSESSMENT
OF PHYSICAL FITNESS

BRUNO BALKE, M. D,

ABSTRACT

An essential factor in air safety is the physical and mental fitness of all
directly involved in operations of general, commercial, and military aviation, Standardiza-

tion and classification of fitness,

jowever, have not been established to a degree which

would allow for much more than a differentiation between “normal” health and pathological
disturbances. Much scientific work is in progress, however, to contrive, within the wide

area of “normal” health, meaningful categories of physical fitness according to
tion — important for the establishment of is — s
le design but capable of rendering results which are comparable to
those of more complex and time consuming laboratory tests. The

criteria. Testing a large
test procedures of

rysiological

imental work

reported here is considered a minute contribution to the eventual establishment of physical

fitness standards which might become hel

pful for acquiring and maint

optimum work

efficiency. ‘The experiments indicated that a lS-minute best-effort run cen bo utilized as
substitute for a standard work capacity test in the laboratory. Any objection about the

adequacy of running as a proj
net certainly be overwei
a satisfactory assessment of

’

Procedures for determining human working
capacity in the laboratory take advantage of
such equipment as treadmills, bicycle ergom-
eters, or stepping devices for providing desir-
able and reproducible levels of work intensity.
The laboratory conditions allow for ajfcontin-
uous monitoring of the circulatory and respir-
atory responses to exercise which is essential
for the recognition of an individual's capacity
for coordinating a complexity of organic func-
tions, Without “on-the-spot” measurements,
most tests involving physicgl exertion arg too
dependent on the individual’s motivatigh and
tolerance for pain and discomfort, ithout
physiological measurements during a “fitness”
test an investigator can rarely ascertain if the
gabject is performing within or beyond his
physiological lirgitations. However, situations
arise which require a screening of the physical
condition of a large number of people within
arelatively short time, Then, laboratory testing

Measure of an aviator’s or air traffic controller's fitness
by the recognition of the fact that this type of test constitutes
potentially available functional reserves.

becomes inadequate because of restrictions in
facilities, equipment, and personnel. In addi-
tion, some people might be interested: in check-
ing their own potential capacity for functional
adaptability if they knew a simple procedure
for obtaining such information. Therefore, a
“field test” is desired which can be expected to
render physiglogically meaningful results, A
field test of physical competence should engage
a familiar type of physical exercise, involving
large muscle groups and eliciting general func-
tional responses:within and up to the limits of
capacity. The test accomplishments should be
measurable in commonly understandable terms
and readily convertible into data of physio-

logical significance.
, r

The type of exercise which comes very close
to fulfilling most of these requirements is the
work of walking and running. According’ to
Henry's” compilation of data on the. oxygen
requirements for these exercises, level walking

-1-



|i ae

A SIMPLE FIELD TEST FOR THE ASSESSMENT
OF PHYSICAL FITNESS

Bruno Balke, M. D.
Chief, Biodynamics Branch

FEDERAL AVIATION AGENCY
AVIATION MEDICAL SERVICE .
AEROMEDICAL RESEARCH DIVISION
CIVIL AEROMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

+ OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

APRIL 1963



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