HOW FIT AM I?
The only way to find a - perhaps confrontational but - honest answer to this question and to get an objective picture of it, is by measuring.
'Numbers tell the tale'
(if you know what you measure)
is the now well-established statement of the Dutch physicist and Nobel Prize winner Kamerlingh Onnes and a widely used principle in science.
Measuring your physical condition/fitness
Although the word 'physical condition/fitness' crops up everywhere and seems a familiar concept to most people, its interpretation is not so clear-cut. The most important thing we want to say about this is that your fitness is determined by not a single one, but a series of factors and therefore cannot be determined on the basis of a single measurement.
An objective assessment of your stamina
Your endurance is one of those factors that determines your fitness. Health related, it is the most decisive parameter of your fitness because your endurance is directly related to the qualitative status of your cardiovascular system and also plays an important role in controlling your body weight. SportMed gives great importance to well-developed endurance and the SportMed Institute developed a specific test and evaluation method to map your endurance in a very understandable way.
SportMed IANT-test
A SportMed IANT test is a sports science, non-invasive exercise test (*) that determines your Individual ANAerobic Threshold (IANT). This IANT enables a certified SportMed Cardio trainer to make a representative assessment of your endurance, based on the frame of reference developed by the SportMed Institute.
(*)Almost everyone in good health, regardless of his or her (un)trained level, can pass this test. In case of the slightest doubt (presence of antecedents that could indicate a risk as a result of the risk stratification that is always implemented) related to the state of health, the advice/approval of a doctor will always be involved.
One can take a SportMed IANT test:
- On a bicycle ergometer
- On a treadmill
- or as a so-called field test (running only)
The SportMed IANT test can be performed either under supervision (of a SportMed Test supervisor, a SportMed Cardio trainer or another SportMed certified person) or be made as a 'Self-test' (e.g. @home, in a SportMed TestPoint, a SportMed365 studio, in-company, ...).
The preparation and after-treatment (analysis of the curves, interpretation of the test data, evaluation of the test results, preparation of the report and the explanation) is always done by a certified SportMed Cardio trainer.
Why take a SportMed IANT test?
You can do this for a variety of reasons. Maybe you just want to know how your stamina is and then the result of the test is the goal in itself. But the test results may also become the basis for you (and your SportMed Cardio trainer) when drawing up your concrete and realistic long, medium and short term goals and/or they are the building blocks for a personally tailored training program according to the SportMed method. A SportMed IANT test is therefore interesting for both novice athletes, to be able to start exercising in a responsible and scientifically substantiated way, as well as for passionate athletes who want to know where they stand.
Test options for the SportMed IANT test
SportMed IANT test on the bicycle ergometer
SportMed IANT test on the bicycle ergometer
SportMed IANT test on the bicycle ergometer
The SportMed IANT bicycle ergometer test is the most frequently performed exercise test for testing people from almost all target groups. No matter how bad the test person's fitness level is, with the bicycle ergometer test, sufficient test values can almost always be collected to make a meaningful analysis with an associated evaluation and can serve as a basis for drawing up a personalized training program. To take this SportMed IANT bicycle ergometer test, we use a precisely calibrated SportMed Approved (self-) test bicycle ergometer, so that we can automatically control the load from an application that SportMed has developed for this purpose and the heart rate values are automatically registered during the test in the file of the test person.
SportMed IANT Treadmill Test
SportMed IANT test on the bicycle ergometer
SportMed IANT test on the bicycle ergometer
This test is interesting for athletes who mainly focus on running. The more sport-specific someone can be tested, the more representative the results reflect the fitness of the test person.
To take this SportMed IANT test on the treadmill, we use a SportMed Approved (self-)test treadmill, so that we can automatically control the speed and/or incline from an application that SportMed has developed for this purpose, and the heart rate values during the test will be automatically registered in the file of the test person.
SportMed IANT Field Test (running only)
SportMed IANT test on the bicycle ergometer
SportMed IANT Field Test (running only)
A test type that we often use when sports clubs, schools or other groups request a SportMed IANT test, is the field test variant.
SportMed developed specific software and hardware with which the SportMed IANT test can be taken from several (up to 25) people at the same time. The only condition to be able to organize a SportMed IANT field test is that we have a flat terrain (or sports hall) where we can lay a circle/oval with a circumference of at least 125m (ideally 200m).
About the SportMed IANT test
NON-INVASIVE TEST
Non-invasive is a fancy word to say that a SportMed IANT test does not involve taking blood samples (invasively). The SportMed IANT test is therefore not a medical test, but a sports science test, which makes it better suited to use for the target group that SportMed mainly wants to focus on. In the SportMed IANT test we therefore do not base ourselves on the analysis of blood samples, but on the evolution of the heart rate during the test.
PRACTICAL AND ACCESSIBLE
The SportMed IANT test is prepared by a certified SportMed Cardio trainer who, based on his expertise, selects the test option and test protocol that best suits the test person and also sets the starting load of the test. The SportMed Cardio trainer uses a software application that SportMed has specifically developed for this purpose.
GENERAL SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TEST
- During the test, the test person tries to go through as many intervals as possible, whereby both the interval times and the load evolve according to a certain pattern per interval, without going to exhaustion. Although a deep effort is required from the test person, the SportMed IANT test is NOT a maximum test - with a SportMed IANT test it is sufficient to exceed a certain effort - which must be continued until exhaustion (which is only allowed under strict medical conditions) takes place.
- We are interested in the way in which the heart rate, which is registered during the test, of the test person reacts to the increased workload.
ANALYSIS
With the help of a software program specifically developed by SportMed, a certified SportMed Cardio trainer (or Cardio expert) will analyze the heart rate curve to find the so-called 'deflection point', the point from which the exertion proceeds at an anaerobic level.
EVALUATION OF THE TEST RESULT
SportMed developed evaluation criteria to provide understandable insight into the test results.
- For athletes and sports we use the SportMed Cardio score.
- For the novice athlete and athletes with mainly health goals, the SportMed Cardio score is of minor importance and we use the SportMed Health Barometer and the SportMed energy criterion, visually represented by the SportMed battery.