At national team testing centers like the Olympic training Center in the U.S, and comparable facilities in Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom etc, elite caliber athletes are evaluated using very expensive oxygen consumption measuring devices, lactate analysis instrumentation etc. The main purpose of all of this is to monitor the effectiveness of training in a systematic, repeatable way. Can we do any kind of testing at the local club or private level that is also quantitative and reproducible without $100,000 in lab equipment? The answer is yes. If you have access to 1) a Concept II ergometer and 2) a heart rate monitor, you can perform the same performance evaluation that is used during physiological testing of national team candidates in the United States. The test was instituted in 1989 by Fred Hagerman PhD, who has been testing American oarsmen for 30 years, along with then national team coach Kris Korzeniowski. Of course, if you were at the lab, they would also stick a mouthpiece in your mouth, poke your earlobe with needles, and draw blood, but we will save that for the body piercing parlor. Two days are required.