Research from scientists at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) has found that effective training regimens, which generally are created after expensive, time-consuming laboratory tests, can be developed from a relatively simple, do-it-yourself test.

Using two tools most competitive cyclists already own: a power meter (a training device that mounts on a bicycle’s rear wheel) and a stationary bicycle trainer, UNH graduate student Jay Francis modified a three-minute all-out cycling test and found that it is as effective as more lab-intensive measurements for determining exercise intensity.

“Power is a very unbiased way of measuring your exercise ability, compared to speed, heart rate, or perceived exertion,” said Francis. “A power meter measures how much power you are getting from your body to the road, independent of external conditions like hills, wind, or even what you had for lunch."

Francis used a three-minute all-out cycling test – “you just push and push and push and never let up” – which had previously shown to yield, in the last 30 seconds of the test, a power level that a cyclist can sustain for 20 to 30 minutes. He replaced laboratory equipment used in the original three-minute test with the cyclist’s own bicycle, fitted with a power meter and used with a stationary trainer.

Testing 16 competitive cyclists, Francis compared their exercise intensity from the power meter test with classic laboratory-produced exercise intensity measures: blood lactate concentration and oxygen consumption. The power-meter and laboratory-based results correlated.