Why bother with RAMP testing?

To illustrate why it is useful to RAMP test I present the data from a client who had reached a plateau, was training too hard and regularly got a good hiding in chain gang sesions that were too hard and not structured.

John Dromey came to me in October 1999 his power was low and his performances less than they could be (e.g. 62 mins for 25 miles). He wanted to break the hour.

His Conconi tests undertaken on a Tacx Grand Excel (see below) show how consistent training, good nutrition and regular testing helped him improve from Oct 99 to Sep 2001. With reductions in HR during base building the RAMP test results provided valuable motivation, taking away the need to have to hammer sessions in desperation to get progress.

To put his progress into perspective in 1999 John was all out (=170 HR) at 260 watts - yet by 2001 the same 260 watt effort only increased his pulse to 137! He now produces 80 watts more for the same effort. Where once he was racing now he is cruising.