Step test predictions of maximum oxygen uptake before and after an employee fitness programme

The Canadian Home Fitness Test has been administered to two large office populations on three occasions over a 9 month period. At the control company (87M, 89F), there was some improvement of test scores from the initial to the final visit (decrease of heart rate in 6th minute of exercise 5.7 beats X min-1 in men, 9.5 beats X min-1 in women); this may reflect habituation to the test procedure. At the experimental company (180M, 258F), employees were given the opportunity of participation in an Employee Fitness Programme. High adherents to this programme (61M, 97F) showed a substantial decrease of 6 min exercise heart rate (12.8, 16.0 beats X min-1) with an increase of CHFT duration (2.59, 2.33 min) and VO2max (Jetté prediction, 3.8, 2.9 ml X kg-1 min-1). These changes were much larger than in either the control group, or in "non-participants" (54M, 46F) and "drop-outs" (19M, 48F) in the experimental company. Low adherents to the fitness programme (46M, 67F) occupied an intermediate position. Given accurate pulse counting, about a sixth of the high adherents would have detected no change of CHFT score if a single test was carried out after completing 6 months in the fitness programme; however, in some of these subjects there may indeed have been no training response. Because it gives a low weighting to exercise heart rate, the Jetté equation indicates a smaller effect of training than the Astrand nomogram.