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     Juerg Senior Member Username: Juerg Post Number: 1055 Registered: 04-2006 |
Here some ideas on CO2 sensor. Yes it is nice if we have testing equipment we can do all of what we dream of. Most common problem : Money. There are incredible nice wireless VO2 testing equipments out there ( 35 '000 and up ) there are nice CO2 sensor equipment out there, but there are some money questions here as well. So the Fit mate we use is a compromise for money and information. You can do in some sport with low impact field tests ( Biking , kajaking , walking ) by using a back pack . No you can see it life , but store it an print out. Yes you see all life in the lab or the fitnmess center, as you can follow all the info on the small screen. No you don't need a computer to have after all the info it is all build in , push a button and the thermo printer will give you all the datas you look for. Now here one very common question on pro and cons on CO2 as an additional feature . Why are we not using CO2 or think we don't need it for what we do . " This is a feed back top one of our many customers . " Hallo Lance. I will forward the price question to Herb as I never know depending on the course and exchange the actual price, as the product comes from europe. Your question on CO2 is a very good one. Here some info: 1. Yes there are equipment out there, who take CO2. There are just much more expensive 3 - 5000 dollar more for CO2 sensor settings 2. The CO2 sensor are very delicate. Once oepne they will be used, whether you test or not, as they steady sense for CO2 so you have to replace them very regular and they are not cheap. 3. A good sensor is very costly and you have a lot of in valid readings as the days go on , as they loose accuracy. In reseaerch they often have to change the CO2 sensor every few weeks becasue of that. You can compare it with the CO2 filters you have in some of the portable Hypoxy ( altitude ) systems like go altitude. lot's of money for a filter and you have to reoplace it after 10 - 12 days , whether you used it or not. 4. The other more interesting part is more the question : What does CO2 really help you for practical purposes. CO2 is used to find your RQ or RER ( respiratory quotient. If the ratio CO2 and O2 is theoretically .7 you are on fat , .85 you are mixed and 1.0 you are pure carbs. In reality in any test you never see .7 but mostly just start on .81 and hiogher as it is always mixed energy supply. . Pure or close to pure fat supply is by 50 % of VO2 max in theory but that is so slow , that most test peole do are already above that. If not the change from doing nothing to starting wuill move you already above .85 ( will explain later. Now the lowest RQ is always where you have the most O2 use so the lowest FeO2 reading . So with the fit mate even without CO2 we know , where the lowest RQ is. with lactate trends we know , where you shift to oxygen independent and just below that HR you will be 1.0 RQ Any thing in between is of no values, as any change in respiratory pattern will change CO2. Last but not least you can see an increase in CO2 in the breathing pattern. As you move from mainly FFA as an energy source ( wghich used more O2 ) to more glucose ( which uses less O2 but prodcues more CO2 ) the breathing pattern in a "untrained" respiratory athelet will change . Why CO2 is a very if not the most potent re4spiratory stimmulator and Respiratory frequency will increase. This does not work on a respiratory trained person , but there you still will have the bodies reaction to move more air and you wuill see an increase in TV ( Tidal volume ) as a means of extracting the more CO2 production to avoid hypercapnia. In some situation in the operation room they use CO2 as a stimmulation of the respiratory drive. Summary : besides avoiding money investment and more technical problems you can do allthe needed ideas for sport training without CO2 sensors. In many cases we see incredible high RQ over 2.3 which show , that manuy users of equipment with CO2 sensor don't care or don't know of the above problems. Please come back for more questions if needed. Juerg |