Polar Own Index fitness test

[Shesha]

Have any of you done the Polar Own Index fitness test, where it gives you a fitness number between 29 and 90?

 

It looks like it's quite closely correlated to VO2Max? What do you all think?

 

Mine was 61, which is apparently elite level of fitness (with 90 being the pros) hmmmmmm, very happy if this is the case.

 

Check this out vs population stats...interested to klnow your

thoughts:

 

http://support.polar.fi/PKBSupport.nsf/42256c2b001e0f6ac22567dc00542fc4/42256c2b001e0f6a4225681f005e304d?OpenDocument

 

 

Shesha2007-04-18 03:52:28

[AndreZA]

Mine is 50.

[Frosty]

51 at home (Gauteng) and 55 in Cape Town

[Spinnekop]

The deaper you breath the bigger the value....Strange.

Mine sits at 65.  Was 73 last year. 

[Gumpole]

How does the test actually work? can understand how a test can measure your 'personal fitness' based on HR, recovery etc. Cant see how it can possibly measure VO2 without taking power into account???

[Shesha]

From the site (but i agree, if you aren't testing power not sure how correct it is) But see below, they seem to have done some research

 

The Polar Fitness Test is based on

Resting heart rate

Heart rate variability

Gender

Age

Height

Body weight

Self-assessment of the level of long-term physical activity (last 6 months)

Validity of a test means that the test measures what it is supposed to measure and not something else. The Polar Fitness Test was originally developed on 305 healthy Finnish men and women in a study, where VO_2max prediction was developed using artificial neural network analysis. The correlation coefficient between the laboratory measured VO_2max and the neural network prediction value was 0.97 and the mean error in the VO_2max prediction was 6.5 % which is good compared to any other predictive tests of VO_2max.

In further development of the test, 119 fitness measurements of healthy American men and women were included in the final development of the neural network, making a total of 424 subjects. Based on these results the artificial neural network was modified into Polar Fitness Test. The test was validated in a study on 52 healthy men, who didn't belong to the group on whom the test was developed. The mean deviation in the Polar Fitness Test prediction was less than 12 %. The validity of the Polar Fitness Test is considered to be good.

The reliability of a test is a measure of how consistent and reproducible the test results are on consecutive trials. The reliability of the Polar Fitness Test is good. When 11 subjects repeated the test in the morning, in the middle of the day and in the evening during eight days, in both sitting and laying positions, the average individual standard deviation of consecutive test results was less than 8 % from the individual mean value. The standard deviations calculated separately for each time of the day were all smaller than the standard deviation of all results. This indicates that the test can be conducted at any time of the day but it should always be repeated at about the same time.

[Guest Big H]

The POLAR test is an Empirical test and based on assumptions. They got to the formula by manupilating statistical values to get an answer similar to the physical VO2Max test. It does not reflect true values. Even physical VO2 Max is only an indication. Read Tim Noakes on VO2 Max in the Lore of Running or the Lore of Cycling Big H2007-04-18 05:27:51

[AndreZA]

in the Lore of Running or the Lore of Cycling

 

Didn't he write that gay book "lore of the rings" aswell.

 

 

Mampara2007-04-18 05:02:59

[MichH]

Back to the topic at hand. I am getting my new (2nd hand) Polar from BikeMax by Friday hopefully and I will try and wrap my little brain around how to do this test!

[Guest Big H]

Baie maklik..... probleem is net jy moet vir 10 minute stil le sonner om te praat en te beweeg..... soms moeilik vir vroumense!!!!!!! Tee heee

[Joobs]

Hi there,

 

How do you even go about doing this test? I have a Polar S520i

 

It is a good indication or an idea at least. It is better than nothing!!!

 

[Shesha]

Find "Fitness Test" on your menu, and then after lying stil for a while and you are feeling realxed and quiet, press start test and stay still until it beeps and then it's over. You then get a reading on the monitor

[racman]

Just don't think about the Stormers performance while you are doing the test... racman2007-04-19 10:53:28