VO2max, spiroergometry and 89 biomarkers.One day, read by one physician.

Separately you can get both in many places: spiroergometry at sports medicine practices and cardiology clinics, laboratory values at your GP or directly through a laboratory. Together on one day and interpreted jointly by one physician is considerably rarer. It is mainly offered by preventive medicine clinics and sports medicine institutes with their own laboratory. YEARS is a physician-led clinic in Berlin City West working with patients from all over Germany. Spiroergometry with VO2max, stress ECG, echocardiography, body plethysmography and 89 laboratory biomarkers all run on the same day, from the Core programme upwards.

Because of comparability and because of interpretation. A VO2max without laboratory context is a number without a reason: whether the value reflects training status, an iron deficiency, the thyroid, the heart or the lungs is decided by the values next to it. If lab work and exercise test come from different weeks, sleep, infections, training load and hydration shift both measurements differently. And collected separately, nobody reads them together: the sports physician sees the performance values, the GP the lab work.

No, and for competitive athletes it is often less interesting, because they already know their values. The benefit is greatest for people who work a lot, train without much structure and want to know how resilient they objectively are. Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with all-cause mortality in large cohort studies, which is why we treat VO2max as a preventive parameter alongside blood pressure and lipids. If you want to optimise competitive performance, a sports medicine institute with lactate diagnostics and training control may be the more suitable address.

For a trend across months your watch estimate is usable; for a medical assessment it is not. Wearables calculate the value from heart rate, pace and age rather than from your breath, and the deviation from a real measurement is individually considerable. In spiroergometry oxygen uptake is measured directly, plus the thresholds and the behaviour of heart and lungs under load. If you want to know whether your watch value is right, a one-off measurement is the sensible comparison.

Spiroergometry with VO2max, stress ECG, echocardiography, body plethysmography and 89 laboratory biomarkers are included from Core at €1,900, together with more than 25 functional examinations in one day. Evolve from €7,600 extends the laboratory to 120 markers and adds whole-body MRI and liquid biopsy; Ultimate from €16,900 goes to 230 markers plus genomics, epigenetics and microbiome. For the question of capacity and its causes, Core is sufficient in most cases, and we say so in the intro call.

For the blood values you should come fasted, so that blood sugar, insulin and triglycerides can be assessed cleanly. Breakfast is provided right after the blood draw so that you do not start the exercise test on an empty stomach. No hard training the day before, because that distorts both the laboratory values and the performance diagnostics. Bring sportswear and indoor shoes. You receive all further instructions in good time before the appointment.

The comparison is not Berlin versus your own city but one day versus several appointments across weeks. Spiroergometry, echo, lung function and a laboratory panel of this breadth are rarely available in one place at home and practically never on the same day. The clinic is around 15 minutes from the main station, the diagnostic day is a single appointment, and the follow-up checks afterwards run by at-home blood test from where you live.