All,
Has anyone ever used the Omegawave system to measure their VO2 and/or other aerobic functions? Apparently they do a detailed measurement of your heart (like a mini EKG) for three minutes while you’re at rest, and based on what they see they can project measurements for a variety of things, including VO2 max, to a reasonable level of accuracy. I’m curious if anyone has used it and what your experience was like.
Next question: suppose the system works as advertised, and your local running/cycling/whatever shop had one. That would mean that every few weeks during your training program, you could “get tested” and objectively measure your improvement, without having to one of those treadmill tests. If your shop sold a card that let you do 12 measurements for $100, would you buy it?
Thanks,
Lee
Lee
Nope. I don’t think it would be worth much. Not sure what omegawave is but I suspect that they are using heart rate variability to determine fitness level. I think Polar is experimenting with the same approach. Even direct measures of VO2 max can have considerable variability, I can’t imagine that an indirect method like this would have enough accuracy to do you much good.
Besides, LT would be a much more useful measure anyway. Most people are not going to see much change in their VO2 max but their LT should change significantly with training. Just my .02.
Mike P.
P.S. I have had access to the equipment to do VO2 max tests and could and can have them done for free. I haven’t done it because I don’t see much use in knowing that number. If I had access to lactate testing, I might try that if I could tie it to power output on the bike.
I’m trying to get some more information from Omega Wave about exactly what they measure. It is indeed done by comparing heart rate variability to a database of previously measured results.
Here’s what their website says; As I get more info directly from them I’ll post it.
The OmegaWave Sport Technology System’s Diff ECG test, which takes less than one minute, looks at the athlete’s energy systems and reports on the following: VO2 max index Aerobic status index Aerobic efficiency index Anaerobic status index Alactic capacity index System’s adaptation index Heart rate at maximum oxygen consumption Heart rate at the anaerobic threshold
The Diff ECG test compares the athlete’s values to the norms that have been established through the testing of thousands of world class athletes. The OmegaWave Sport Technology System’s expert Physiological Intelligence System also generates diagnostic information and reports on the athlete’s current functional state.
By monitoring the status of energy systems, coaches and trainers can see which systems have been stressed and which have recovered. They can also watch as reserves build over time through over-compensation. The anaerobic threshold heart rate and the heart rate at maximum oxygen consumption - which change on a daily basis - provide a guide for coaches and athletes to use in planning and executing workouts that productively lead to desired results.
This is a fairly positive review from another triathlon website… http://lavamagazine.com/omegawave/ I would actually really like to try this system. Over reaching is something that I do commonly, and while it’s beginning to get easier to identify, I would love some objective feedback that could prevent those ‘blown out’ weeks where I accomplish nothing.
But 99 dollars is too much for my poor collegiate self (especially since it’s a subscription service). Maybe Christmas?
Has anyone else out there tried Omega?
That is strange?
Can’t one affect one’s heart rate variability simply through mental practice?
Google Heart Math Institute. I’ve actually used their app and their flagship product and am able to modify my heart rate variability - how would that work with this system?
Disclaimer - I work for Omegawave
Yes, you can affect HRV with breathing and mental practice, but who are you cheating here? Can you “pretend” that your body has fully recovered and go for a hard workout when you are not ready?
Our system can recognize the conscious influences that you are making to HRV, so it will pick that up for sure. I’ve tried 
In addition, we are not just an HRV app. Yes, we use HRV as one of our methods, but most of the HRV app out there use a simple HRV algorithm. Our patented technology uses several methods to calculate heart rate variability. In addition, we not only look at your HRV, but also the balance of your autonomic system and your metabolic system. Nobody else in the world can give you this much information.
Now, in response to Brad - I could argue that if you are spending countless hours training, wouldn’t it be nice to know if you are actually benefiting from that time spent? Wouldn’t it be nice to know if you are actually making progress and not have to wait to race day to validate your assumptions? Everybody knows that proper training trumps any “upgrade” you buy to your bike or new running shoes.
Just a thought!
That sounds a lot like troll science.
Any study comparing the omegawave-estimated VO2max to a lab-measured VO2max?
HI NChristi
Apologies for the delay in the answer! For some reason, the e-mail notification went to my spam folder!
Let me clarify a few things first
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Breathing techniques have been used and proven to help promote recovery. I think you have heard that when you mediate you need to deep a certain way? It’s the same here - If you practice some breathing patterns, it stimulates your body to turn on the “recovery engine”, so to say. This activates your parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) to act while you are doing this breathing exercises, but once you stop, it comes back to the original state. So what I explained is that if you “cheat” during the HRV test to activate your PSNS will be activated and it will promote recovery, but only for a short period of time. Our system can pick that up, and give you the real state of your body.
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On the side of the VO2 max tests, it’s difficult to place the original article here, due to copyright law, but here is an excerpt (http://www.calciatori.com/notizie/new-method-of-preventing-injury-and-controlling-post-injury-rehabilitation-based-on-the). This was published XVI Congress on Sport Rehabilitation and Traumatology, in Milan, Italy on April of 2007. In that study there was a direct comparison between field tests using gas analyser, and Omegawave. Sorry for the statistics, but the correlation coefficient (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearson_product-moment_correlation_coefficient) between the field tests and the results from Omegawave is R = 0.83. When you get a R of 0.5, you have a high correlation, so the numbers are very good.
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However, the number that we place most importance is Heart Rate at Anaerobic Threshold, not VO2 Max. For healthy athletes between the ages of 14 and 40, our HRatANT will be between 2 beats of the actual stress test. So in my case, my HR at ANT taken from a gas analyser on the ergometer was 171, and Omegawave gives me a range of 170-175 beats. We know that the HR at ANT moves every day, depending on how your body is reacting to training and how exhausted it is from training. Plus, the fitter you get, the number will vary. If you have done a gas mask test 6 months ago, your number will definitely not be the same today. Omegawave will give you a daily analysis of that number based on your ECG wave.
I hope I gave enough answers without going to deep in the science. If you would like to me to discuss a little deeper on how we calculate this and how you could use it, just let me know!
Cheers!
We had Omega Wave come in and do Vo2 measurements for my team in college. I found it really useful then. Those of us taking biology class also had access to full Vo2 testing in a lab. I was really impressed by teh Omegawave accuracy, and as a younger athlete, liked the education that came along with it.
If a tri shop had one, they could do all sorts of tiered services: punch cards, a one-time “measure your Vo2”, included as part of a bigger coaching package, etc.
I think that amateur and recreational atheltes are becoming more aware of Vo2 as a metric, even if most still don’t fully understand what it means. You’d also want to have some good explanantion of how Omegawave is pretty accurate without being a full, costly Vo2 test on a treadmill in a lab with oxygen regulation and blood tests. So just some good marketing that convinces people who are skeptical about it.
Here’s what I’d say.
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Since polar has been doing this since at least 2001 when they had it on their s210 watches that cost $100, I’d say you would simply be taking advantage of people who don’t know any better. I have an s210 in my drawer that I haven’t used in years, let me know the name of the first person who asks you about it and I’ll send it to them for free instead of you hitting them up for $100 each time.
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I did a trial last year with heart rate variability and here’s what we found, changes in some heart rate variability measures tracked moderately with changes in fitness. Specifically sd1 and the ratio of sd2/sd1 were correlated with positive and negative changes specifically. However, in some people it worked great, in others not so much, on average it was moderate but how do you know if you are the good correlation guy or the bad one?
2a. In fact when looking across a population, a cross sectional study the numbers look awesome, less in shape people score “lower” on the chart than people more in shape. But when you start trying to track if changes in hrv parameters track performance, it’s not so clear.
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Did you swallow during the test? Oh crap you just shot the lf/hf ratios all to shit, better take it again.
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Oh, you were breathing too slowly, meaning that when the hrv synced with you breathing it made it look like the LF frequencies had a lot of power and it’s all screwed up again.
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Mainly though, as Mike P. alluded to, do you want to know if you’re faster? Get outside or on the treadmill and do the same 1.5 mile run you did last week, were you faster? Price $0.
Hi,
As a clarification to my previous points - We do NOT predict your VO2 max, we analyse your ECG signal to elicit the HR at Anaerobic Threshold. Predicted VO2 max is not a valid number without sub-maximal stress test.
WIthout getting into too much detail, since I don’t want to bash other companies (too much), I just want to add the following:
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Polar did their own studies without an independent research lab involved. Even when they did their own research, the results show that VO2 max number differs 12%. That’s quite a big number in my book! That’s their own claim, form their study.
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To comment on the matter if you are improving - Go out and run! Sure, this is a very valid point. But what you fail to realise is how much is getting fitter costing your body? Do you know? Sure, if you run, you will improve, but do you know if your body is actually coping with the stress? Are you managing the risks associated with getting faster? Are you close to injury? What does it say if you just ran a fast track session, but the next day you can barely walk and never recover for the next month, and times get worse and worse. Was it that last track session or the days and weeks leading to that?
I’m sure a lot of people are keenly aware of how their body is reacting to training, but I know I’m not one of them. I, on the one hand, am happy to have a tool that allows me to track how my body reacts to training, and if I should or shouldn’t do those fast intervals today, and better wait for tomorrow. If you are one of those keen athletes, kudos to you!