A comparison of methods for eliciting maximum oxygen uptake from college women during treadmill walking

Subjects for the study were physical education majors active in intercollegiate athletics (N = 14). All subjects completed a conventional Balke test (2 min at 0% grade followed by 1% grade increments/min to exhaustion), a short Balke test (2 min. at 10% grade followed by 1%/min increments to exhaustion), and a maximum load test (2 min at 0% grade followed by immediately raising the treadmill bed to max grade reached in a previous Balke test aad continuation of walking to exhaustion). A. subgroup (N = 6) also completed a fourth test designated a modified Balke test (2 min at 0% grade followed by 3%/min increments for 4–6 min, then 1%/min to exhaustion). Speed of die treadmill belt was 3.5 mph during all tests. MaxV̇o2, V̇E, heart rate, and test duration, along with, heart rate response pattern were determined for all subjects on each test. Differences in maxV̇o2 and V̇E were small and insignificant. Maximum attained heart rate for the maximum load test was significantly lower than for the other tests. The short Balke, modified Balke, and maximum load tests were considerably more economical of test time (8–10 minutes in each case) than the Balke test. The subjects expressed a preference for the conventional Balke test.