Demonstration of a training response by the Canadian home fitness test

The relative merits of the Astrand nomogram and the CHFT formula for prediction of maximum oxygen intake (VO2max) have been tested in 35 men and women during performance of the advanced version of the Canadian Home Fitness Test in a laboratory setting. Prior to training, systematic errors relative to direct treadmill measurements of maximum oxygen intake were Astrand-10.1% (male) and-1.4% (female), and CHFT 5.6% (male), and 2.2% (female), the error of the Astrand procedure being statistically significant for the men. Training was effected by a walk/jog prescription or rope-skipping and calisthenics. Following training, data analysis indicated that the CHFT prediction formula distinguished quite well between the behaviour of experimental and control subjects. The Astrand procedure showed a greater increment in VO2(max) than the CHFT formula for the experimental subjects (significantly so in the women), but it also predicted a large and spurious change in many of the controls, so that in the men responses did not differ between trained and control subjects. Further comparisons suggested that the CHFT procedure gave a closer approximation to direct treadmill estimates of training response than did the Astrand nomogram.