This is really great. For those who aren't familiar with what these machines can do, the calculation of an athlete's Vo2 max really isn't all that useful. However, a breakdown of the fat and carbohydrate calories burned at various efforts can be incredibly useful for helping an athlete learn how to fuel correctly for performance over distance.<p>I'm not a physiologist or physician (and I'm sure what I'm about to say may be max cringe to the bonafide experts that are around), but my basic understanding is that when expending effort, you burn calories from fat stores and from glycogen stores. Glycogen stores store around 2000 calories, and expending one's glycogen stores results in hitting "the wall" - your body simply doesn't have any fuel to proceed. Your fat stores, on the other hand, provide access to tens of thousands of calories.<p>People are generally fat-inefficient - any effort immediately biases towards consumption of glycogen. And when you're out, that's it. Your day is done. So knowing the rate you're burning carbohydrate calories can inform an athlete how often and how much to fuel.<p>Some people are born "fat-efficient", meaning they can access their fat stores easier. Fat efficiency can also be improved through low-intensity endurance training with improved diet. So athletes will periodically do a VO2 test to stay in-tune with how their body is using the fuel sources available to it.<p>Many years ago I did an Ironman (Couer d'Alene) and a Vo2 test indicated I needed to <i>aggressively</i> consume calories (at the effort I was planning to ride) on the bike. After all, you have to get off the bike nutritionally prepared and hydrated to run a marathon. So that's what I did, and I had a good day considering I really wasn't all that fit.<p>Endurance and ultradistance events aren't really tests of toughness. They are science experiments. It's all about figuring out how to take one's fitness and stretch it over the distance of the event.<p>One additional note - there are machines much less expensive than 60k available, but they are still pretty expensive (in the thousands).
Sometimes I wonder if the way to bypass the insane regulations around medical devices is to just publish them online for anyone to build themselves.<p>Sure I won't have the minutes detail of million dollar medical equipment, but maybe I don't need all that precision, or maybe that's better than having no access at all to the measurements at all
One refinement would be to split the device in to two parts = the mask/tube/sensors and the electronics and battery. Then, the a large portion of the weight could be moved to the back of the headband or a fanny pack reducing the load/torque/etc. on the face.<p>A lot of headlamps do this for example.
<a href="https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/SPECIALIZED-headlamps/DUO-S" rel="nofollow">https://www.petzl.com/US/en/Sport/SPECIALIZED-headlamps/DUO-...</a>
Neat! I've been thinking about this lately. If you had accurate CO2 and O2 measurements, you could calculate how many milligrams of fat you are burning during exercise.
Wow, great job! That's the real hacker spirit)<p>> I have found that with the calculations for energy expended from the Oxygen utilization algorithm is slightly higher than that calculated by the work/watt output of the Zwift App algorithm.<p>I beleive this is because Zwift doesn't count a basal metabolic rate. As far as I understand this is a default behavior for all calorie tables and trackers, one must calculate and add that constant manually. This device can actually measure that value!
First comment on page.<p>>My wife is an Ironman as well (Muskoka, Tremblant and Penticton). . She's been using Zwift since last year. Great way to train btw and great idea but. My concern would be a collapsed lung(s) if this wasn't calibrated correctly. To each their own, but stressing your lungs and diaphragm this much isn't a great idea.<p>In a lab they can at least make sure you don't hurt yourself.
The title should be changed to reflect the title used in the article. "Accurate VO2 Max for Zwift and Strava"<p>Especially considering the following:<p>> Physiology labs that are normally used for testing VO2 max cost upwards of $60,000 and are certainly not portable. They have sensors that measure the same things only on a much finer level.
It's like HN has a microphone in my home. I've been looking into adding VO2 max measurement capabilities to our VR fitness game and been looking for DIY solutions and then this :)<p>That looks actually useful
This is a cool project. The lack of CO2 sensing is a significant limitation. This wouldn’t replace a CPET because of that limitation. I know that’s not what it claims to replace (though the price tag seems to suggest so). But that could be a modification that would have significant value. It would allow you to triangulate your anaerobic threshold, for example.
I thought the DIY air-quality monitor earlier today was neat but this blows me away.<p>Some serious next-level hardware hackers this generation.<p>I get worried everyone is turning into dumb iphone+app users but this advanced creation stuff restores faith.