Although maximal incremental exercise tests (GXT) are the gold standard for outcome assessment and exercise prescription, they are not widely available in either fitness or clinical exercise programs. This study compared the prediction of VO2max in healthy, sedentary volunteers using a non-exercise prediction (Matthews et al., 1999), RPE extrapolation to 19 and 20 and the Rockport Walking Test (RWT), and of ventilatory threshold (VT) using the Talk Test and RPE @ 13,14,15. Subjects performed a treadmill GXT with gas exchange, a submaximal treadmill with RPE and Talk Test, the RWT and Matthews. All methods provided reasonable estimates of both VO2max and VT, with correlations of >0.80 and SEE~1.3 METs. VO2max was best estimated with the extrapolation to RPE=19. VT was intermediate between the TT Last Positive and Equivocal stages and between RPE 13 and 14. Non-maximal evaluation can be used in place of maximal GXT with gas exchange to make reasonable estimates of both VO2max and VT.

ii iii ABSTRACT Alajmi, R. A. Comparison of non-maximal tests for exercise prescription and outcome assessment. MS in Clinical Exercise Physiology, December 2017, 71pp. (C. Foster) This study examined the accuracy of non-maximal tests: the Talk Test (TT), Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) extrapolation, Rockport Walking Test (RWT) and non-exercise VO 2 max prediction equation for predicting exercise capacity (VO 2 max and VT). Subjects (N=20) were 18-50 yrs. of low to moderate fitness level. Subjects performed three exercise sessions. Test 1 was a maximal incremental test to measure VO 2 max and VT. Test 2 was a submaximal incremental exercise test without respiratory gas exchange measurements, using the TT and RPE. Test 3 was the RWT. Also, VO 2 max was calculated using the non-exercise prediction equation of Matthews et al. (1997). The results showed that there was no significant difference between measured VO 2 max and predicted VO 2 max using the non-exercise equation, extrapolation to RPE19 and the RWT. However, measured VO 2 max was significantly less than predicted VO 2 max using extrapolation to RPE 20 (p≤0.05). There was no significant difference (p>0.05) between the VO 2 at VT, the LP, and EQ stages of the TT, and at RPE13 and RPE14. However, the VO 2 at RPE 15 was significantly higher than VO 2 at VT (p≤0.05). In conclusion, the results showed that the non-maximal methods could be used as primary methods for exercise prescription and outcome assessment.iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS