Discovery High Performance Test

[gpcar]

Morning Guys,

 

I have booked a High Performance test at Discovery.

 

I was just wondering if anyone else has done it before? and if so what test do you do?

 

FTP?

Ramp test?

20min max ? 

 

Just interested to see what i'm in for.

 

Thanks Guys

[JBK]

What's the point in doing this test ?

[gpcar]

To get vitality points

[Red Bird]

From the site...

 

To do this assessment you need to fulfil certain qualifying criteria. This criteria includes:

• Being between 18 and 59 years old. There is an age limit because of general age-related health risks;
• Having completed one of the selected cycling or running events within the qualifying times in the past year;
• Having passed the pre-participation screening and given your consent.

The Vitality High Performance Fitness Assessment costs R425 and includes:

• Anthropometric measurements, including your body mass, stature and body mass index
• An evaluation of strength and flexibility to help with injury prevention
• A cycling specific peak performance test which measures your heart rate response

Vitality points

You can earn up to 7 500 points for doing the Vitality Fitness Assessment, depending on how fit you are. These points will count towards you overall annual fitness points cap.

If you meet the criteria you can choose to just do the Vitality High Performance Fitness Assessment, and can earn up to 17 500 points, depending on how fit you are.

[gpcar]

From the site...

 

To do this assessment you need to fulfil certain qualifying criteria. This criteria includes:

• Being between 18 and 59 years old. There is an age limit because of general age-related health risks;
• Having completed one of the selected cycling or running events within the qualifying times in the past year;
• Having passed the pre-participation screening and given your consent.

The Vitality High Performance Fitness Assessment costs R425 and includes:

• Anthropometric measurements, including your body mass, stature and body mass index
• An evaluation of strength and flexibility to help with injury prevention
• A cycling specific peak performance test which measures your heart rate response

Vitality points

You can earn up to 7 500 points for doing the Vitality Fitness Assessment, depending on how fit you are. These points will count towards you overall annual fitness points cap.

If you meet the criteria you can choose to just do the Vitality High Performance Fitness Assessment, and can earn up to 17 500 points, depending on how fit you are.

 

Yeah i saw this.

 

Just wondering what specific peak performance test they referring to....

[Frosty]

I've done it, in 2014 or 2015.

 

They do some tests on your flexibility, eg. lunges, leg extensions (on your back, leg straight and see how close to, or passed perpendicular, and a few others. Then straight into the ramp test. I brought my own road and mtb shoes with, only to find the bike had platform pedals with straps to tie your shoes down (you know the type on the gym bikes?).

 

IIRC, they start at 100W or 125W then ramp up 1W every 4 secs. You need to keep your cadence above 70rpm (I think) otherwise the test will end. You go for as long as you can until you can no longer sustain the effort above the minimum revs per minute. It feels easy in the beginning, so no point going hard until it's close to your FTP, then it requires some concentration to keep the cadence steady. 

 

Not sure how accurate the test was given that it was an indoor bike from the dinosaur era, but the equipment used to measure my VO2max was more recent-looking. I felt a bit claustrophobic with the mask on my face, and developed that itch that needed a scratch but you couldn't get to it with the mask on.

 

Would I do it again?

Yes, if I wanted to compare myself to the last test.

No, as riding my bikes give me more pleasure that trying to constantly be better than yesterday.

[Frosty]

Here's the link to my post in the Discovery thread that tells you what they test, or provide results for:

 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/155595-discovery-health-vitality-and-team-vitality-plus-everything-else-you-need-to-know/page-383?do=findComment&comment=3051872

 

I did the high performance test in 2015, and it wasn't on a watt bike but something out of last century - a "sort of smart-enabled" bike with the resistance automatically increasing every 4 seconds.

 

The resistance increased by 1W every 4 seconds until the cadence drops below 70rpm, or you give up. I also had the mask on so they could measure the VO2max. 

 

Although you describe the basic fitness test, the high performance one I did is not much different to what you did. Do they give you anything else besides max Watts and a VO2max figure?
 

• Height
• Weight
• BMI
• Sum of 7 skin folds
• Predicted body fat
• Fat mass
• Lean body mass
• Absolute VO2max
• Relative VO2max
• Peak RER

 

Power Data

• Peak Power Output
• Peak Power-Weight Ratio
• LT Power-Weight Ratio
• Composite Score
• Lactate Threshold (LT) Power
• LT as a % of Maximum Power
• Crossover Point Power

Heart Rate Data

• Lactate Threshold HR
• LT as % of Maximum HR
• Crossover Point HR
• Peak Heart Rate

Edited September 22, 2019 by Frosty

[gpcar]

I've done it, in 2014 or 2015.

 

They do some tests on your flexibility, eg. lunges, leg extensions (on your back, leg straight and see how close to, or passed perpendicular, and a few others. Then straight into the ramp test. I brought my own road and mtb shoes with, only to find the bike had platform pedals with straps to tie your shoes down (you know the type on the gym bikes?).

 

IIRC, they start at 100W or 125W then ramp up 1W every 4 secs. You need to keep your cadence above 70rpm (I think) otherwise the test will end. You go for as long as you can until you can no longer sustain the effort above the minimum revs per minute. It feels easy in the beginning, so no point going hard until it's close to your FTP, then it requires some concentration to keep the cadence steady. 

 

Not sure how accurate the test was given that it was an indoor bike from the dinosaur era, but the equipment used to measure my VO2max was more recent-looking. I felt a bit claustrophobic with the mask on my face, and developed that itch that needed a scratch but you couldn't get to it with the mask on.

 

Would I do it again?

Yes, if I wanted to compare myself to the last test.

No, as riding my bikes give me more pleasure that trying to constantly be better than yesterday.

 

Thank you. Perfect!

 

Strange they only had flat pedals. 

 

Thank you for the info!

[JBK]

You don't need to do this test in order to register as a endurance / high performance profile.

[Frosty]

You don't need to do this test in order to register as a endurance / high performance profile.

The OP hasn't mentioned wanting to get onto the endurance / high performance profile. Was asking about the assessment.

[JBK]

The OP hasn't mentioned wanting to get onto the endurance / high performance profile. Was asking about the assessment.

Yea but someone else mentioned doing it for points... Lots of people have the misconception that you have to do this test in order to register for endurance profile...