FatMax Assessment: Physiolab experts will determine your highly individual exercise intensity to maximize fat burning during exercise
Nutrition Assessment and Counseling: Physiolab registered dieticians will determine your nutrition status and work with you on optimizing you diet to meet wellness goal
24-Hour Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) or Sport-Specific Exercise Assessment in the Metabolic Chamber: Physiolab experts monitor your metabolism across a typical day or during a bout of exercise of your choice
Physiolab Assessments
Our individualized, state-of-the-art tests and tailored packages assess your body composition, metabolic rate, nutrition status and dietary habits, cardiovascular fitness, and functional movement. Based on your goals and priorities, we can develop a custom nutrition and exercise program that best meets your needs. We offer several types of assessments.
Body Composition Assessment
These evaluations include:
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Anthropometrics and vitals: This general health assessment uses precise measurements (called anthropometrics) to assess the size, shape, and composition of your body. We measure your waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and body mass index. We check your resting blood pressure and resting heart rate. Then we compare your data to the population norms to see how healthy you are compared to others.
This assessment includes:
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20-minute general health assessment and body shape measures
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Post-test report
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BodPod assessment: Scales can tell you your weight, but they don’t give the whole picture of your body composition. The air displacement plethysmography device (called a Bod Pod) allows us to precisely determine how much of your body is fat mass and how much is muscle, bone, and organs (called lean mass). The test is easy, noninvasive, and more accurate than the bioimpedance devices used in most gyms. Plus it is nearly as accurate as a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (called DEXA) test, without exposing you to radiation. Understanding your body composition offers insight into your overall health, including disease risk, physical function, and athletic performance. We pair these data with additional measures to determine your body-fat distribution and risk of chronic disease.
Establishing a baseline body composition before you embark on a health and wellness journey helps you track your changes and progress. We recommend follow-up assessments every 6-10 weeks, depending on your goals. This can be a powerful tool to understand the effect of your lifestyle changes on your proportion of fat mass to fat-free mass.
This assessment includes:
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30-minute body composition assessment
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Body shape measures and post-test report
Metabolic Assessments
The Physiolab performs several assessments to see how much oxygen your body uses at rest and during exercise.
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Resting Metabolic Rate and Resting Energy Expenditure: The resting metabolic rate assessment measures how much oxygen your body uses at rest. It also tells us how many calories your body burns over the course of the day when functioning normally, without accounting for any additional movement or activity. These data allow us to determine your resting metabolic rate, resting energy expenditure, and respiratory exchange rate. From this information, we learn:
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How your metabolic rate compares to the general population
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The exact number of calories you burn at rest in a day
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The type of fuel your body uses while resting (stored fat or stored carbohydrates)
Whether your goal is to lose, gain, or maintain your weight, this information is a critical part of designing and personalizing a weight management program.
This assessment includes:
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One hour assessment
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Post-test counseling session
FatMax Protocol: Exercise recommendations tend to be generalized. What works well for one person may not be effective for another. Our FatMax protocol help us create a personalized exercise plan for you, designed around your own metabolic measurements. This way, you can get the most out of your exercise.
The FatMax test is a multi-stage bicycle exercise test that measures how your body burns fat at different exercise intensities. During this test, we capture a wide range of data including heart rate, oxygen consumption, rate of fat and carbohydrate burning, and total calorie burn at each intensity level. This helps us pinpoint the exercise intensity at which you are burning fat at the highest rate (your personal FatMax). Then, we develop a strategic exercise prescription, based on your personal data.
This assessment includes:
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One-hour-long FatMax assessment
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Post-test counseling session
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Every-other-week check-ins with a registered dietitian/exercise physiologist throughout lifestyle program period
24-Hour Metabolic Chamber: Our metabolic chamber is an advanced research environment disguised as a comfortable windowed living room. It measures your total energy expenditure. You spend 24 hours in this chamber as we record how much energy your body uses minute by minute. This gives us a comprehensive picture of how many calorie your body burns during rest, sleeping, exercise, eating, and performing activities of daily life. We analyze how your individual data compares to the general population.
We work with you to plan the 24-hour metabolic chamber schedule so it mimics your day-to-day life as closely as possible. You will also perform a variety of types and intensities of workouts, which helps us determine which exercise routine optimizes your calorie burn and design the most effective workout for you. We can give you the knowledge and tools you need to make strategic lifestyle changes, or just better understand the mechanisms that fuel your body.
This assessment includes:
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24-hour assessment
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Counseling session afterward
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Biweekly check-ins with a registered dietitian/exercise physiologist throughout lifestyle program period
If you only want to know the total number of calories you burn in a typical day, we can do a shorter version. A validated three-hour chamber assessment can predict your typical 24-hour energy expenditure.
Fitness Assessments
Fitness assessments can determine your overall condition as well as your cardiorespiratory and sport-specific fitness.
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Functional Movement Screen: This standardized assessment evaluates your mobility, stability, and the fundamental movement patterns essential for safe and effective physical performance. We use a series of seven evidence‑based movement screens to identify asymmetries, weaknesses, and areas of potential injury risk. These results help us individualize your exercise programming and enable you to you prevent injuries, and optimize overall movement efficiency.
This assessment includes:
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Detailed report of movement screen including areas of strength and weakness
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Personalized corrective exercises and custom resistance training protocol
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Post-test review and results
- Cardiorespiratory Fitness: The VO2 maximal assessment measures how your heart, lungs, and blood deliver oxygen to your muscles, and how your muscles use that oxygen during exercise. This test offers insight into your overall and heart health status and risk of chronic disease. It also lets us compare your cardiorespiratory fitness to the general population.
We conduct this test on either a stationary bicycle or a treadmill. Then we prescribe an individualized exercise program to meet your health goals.
We can use submaximal VO2 testing for those who cannot perform maximal exercise due to health limitations.
This assessment includes:
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One-hour assessment
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Post-test counseling session
Please note, VO2 maximal testing requires physician clearance. We will give you a physician referral/medical clearance forms prior to your visit. Please print the form, have your doctor complete it, and bring it with you to your appointment.
- Sport-Specific Testing: If you’re wondering what you should eat for peak performance in your favorite sport, our sport-specific testing can tell you. Prior to the session, we ask you to send us an outline of your usual exercise regimen. We talk to you about your current routine and your performance goals. Based on this information, we create an sport-specific exercise assessment. Then we develop an exercise plan and a set of nutritional guidelines to help you meet your individual performance goals.
This assessment includes:
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Custom exercise protocol
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Pre- and post-test counseling sessions
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Biweekly check-ins with registered dietitian/exercise physiologist throughout lifestyle program period
Please note, to prepare your individualized assessment, we need your exercise regimen at least one week in advance.
Sport-Specific Testing: Exercise Energy Expenditure and Sports Nutrition
This hands-on, customizable protocol is designed to answer your most-pressing questions on fueling your body for your favorite sport. Prior to the session, we will have a discussion on your current routine and your upcoming goals. Based on this information, we will create a completely individualized sport-specific exercise testing protocol, designed to answer your questions on fueling for peak performance. With the data gathered from the protocol, we will provide you with a personalized plan including:
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An exercise plan tailored to your metabolic results and performance goals
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Nutrition guidelines that are most appropriate for your individual performance goals
Includes:
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Custom exercise protocol and pre- and post-test counseling session
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Biweekly check-ins with Registered Dietitian/Exercise Physiologist throughout lifestyle program period
Please note, the Sport-Specific Exercise assessment requires you send the Physiolab your usual exercise regimen at least one week in advance.
Nutrition, Exercise, and Lifestyle Counseling
In addition to providing you with extensive personalized data, we also offer counseling and advice. We offer:
- Nutrition Counseling and Exercise Counseling: Our team of registered dietitians and certified exercise physiologists works one-on-one with you to provide strategic, individualized diet and exercise analyses and prescriptions. We help you implement a personalized wellness program that ensures long-lasting changes. We want you to meet your personal health and fitness goals.
This assessment includes:
- One-on-one 60-minute session with a registered dietitian to discuss nutrition goals and diet planning
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- One-on-one 60-minute session with an exercise physiologist to discuss exercise goals and planning
- Nutrition Adequacy Assessment: We start by asking you to provide a three-day food log. We analyze these data to see how well your diet provides the macronutrients and micronutrient distribution you need. Then we compare your results with the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans and Dietary Reference Intakes. You will learn where your diet is adequate and where you can make improvements.
This assessment includes:
- Analysis of your three-days dietary record
- Comprehensive report comparing your diet to established reference intakes (including total calories, percent carbohydrates/fat/protein, micronutrients, fibers, and vitamins)
