Measured maximal oxygen uptake in a multi-stage shuttle test and treadmill-run test in trained athletes

The aims of the study were: i) to compare the measured maximal oxygen uptake (MVO2max) during the 20 m multi-stage shuttle test (MST) with MVO2max during an incremental treadmill-run test (TRT), and ii) to establish the reliability of MVO2max during MST, in trained athletes.

8 well-trained endurance-athletes (END) and 8 athletes involved in team games (GAM) performed the MST twice (i.e. MST1 and MST2) and the TRT once, in 3 separate sessions.

MVO2maxx attained in the MST and TRT was measured using a portable respiratory analyser (model K4 RQ, Cosmed).

MVO2max attained in the MST and TRT were significantly different for the END athletes (4.1+/-0.28 vs 4.45+/-0.31 Lxmin-1, P<0.05) but not for GAM athletes (4.01+/-0.51 vs 4.1+/-0.59 Lxmin-1, P>0.05). The 95% limits of agreement for MVO2max in the MST in Lxmin-1 were -0.67 to 0.27. MVO2max in MST1 and MST2 were not significantly different for END athletes (4.18+/-0.39 vs 4.1+/-0.28 Lxmin-1, P>0.05) and GAM athletes (4.01+/-0.55 vs 4.01+/-0.51 Lxmin-1, P>0.05). Reliability indicators for MVO2max in Lxmin-1 for MST test-retest were: typical error (TE)=0.14, coefficient of variation (CV)=3.5 and intra-class correlation (ICC)=0.90.

MVO2max in the MST was lower than that measured in the TRT for the END athletes but not for the GAM athletes. Sport-specificity was an important consideration, especially when testing END athletes for VO2max. MVO2max in the MST showed acceptable levels of reproducibility.