My Spirit Animal is a Skiing Guinea Pig

The Health and Human Performance Lab at MSU is awesome. There's no better way to put it. My first time at the facility was last fall for my VO₂Max testing, and I still remember the amazement of seeing that facility for the first time. The gym-sized basement is full of athletic and scientific equipment. Rowing machines, stationary bikes, scales, computers, and refrigerators covered with “Blood and Urine Only” decals are scattered across the lab, and old lab presentations, racing bibs, and autographed athlete posters decorate every spare inch of the walls. It's a temple where people come to worship raw athleticism. I now know what Augustus Gloop felt like when he first saw the chocolate river in Willy Wonka’s Factory.

Threshold Test Number I: Base-Level Testing
It's crazy how this place can control the seemingly uncontrollable.

The Human Performance Lab has two centerpiece attractions. The first is a rock climbing treadmill, which can be set at any variety of speeds and pitches, and has most recently used in tests to better define how nutrition can enhance climbing performance. On the other side of the lab is the Mount Olympus of sporting equipment: The rollerski treadmill.This was to be my instrument for analysis during the next week.

I was stoked to see that the lab needed a skiing Guinea Pig for their independent study of the athletic company Skins. This round of tests would determine performance-based evidence of the effectiveness of muscle-compression athletic tights compared to a standard Lycra racing suit.

The theory behind muscle-compression clothing, especially when worn on the legs, is to reduce muscle movement and vibration and focus the direction of the muscle. Over the distance of a race, this decrease in excess muscle movement could mean considerable conservation of otherwise wasted energy. Also, since the feet and legs are the furthest extremities from the heart, compression tights (and those ridiculous looking compression socks) have been marketed as helpful in efficiently promoting the blood flow from the extremities back to the heart during exercise.

Threshold Test Number III: Compression Testing
The Blood Testing between Speed-Increases

The effectiveness of the compression tights would be determined through lactic acid levels in my bloodstream, which meant I would be doing three separate Lactate Threshold tests on the ski treadmill. I functioned as the “Large Control Variable” because I am large and require more muscle to move my 6’6” frame, compared to the other Guinea Piggies who are 40cm shorter than me. The lab also hypothesized that the compression function would be more helpful for larger skiers like me due to the sheer proportion of a taller muscle.

I was to come in for three tests on separate days. I was to eat and hydrate the same way before each test, and I wasn’t allowed to exercise 24 hours before the start of any of the evaluations. We weren’t even allowed to stretch beforehand because the warm up was very structured on the rollerski treadmill for consistency. At the beginning of each test, small golf ball-type things were glued to my joints, much like that used in 3D animation studios. These worked as reflectors, and when recorded on a special camera they could be used to render an animated image of my ski technique, which was used to compare my ski technique in compression tights to my technique in the standard racing suit.

My first visit was simply to find a base blood-lactate threshold to use in the other tests, as well as get used to the process of skiing, getting my finger pricked for a blood sample, skiing some more, giving some more blood, and so on. The second visit was the full threshold test in a normal racing suit without compression. The third and final test was just like the first and second, but this time with the flashy new compression tights. While I’m still waiting on official results and conclusions, I do know for some reason my heart rate was considerably lower throughout all speeds and blood-lactate levels while wearing the compression tights. Mind you these are TIGHT tights, in both meanings of the word. With the compression straps supposed to hug specific muscle masses, it takes a good five minutes to put these bad boys on.

I loved getting more time in on the ski treadmill. It was definitely worth 17 pricks in the finger. Every extracurricular activity I do in Bozeman makes me feel more a part of the community. For a cool video-synopsis of the Human Performance Lab and the rollerski treadmill, click HERE.


On the rollerski treadmill theme, here is the footage of the last minute of last Fall's VO₂ Max Test. Please excuse the poor technique, I was fairly tired.