Comprehensive Fitness Assessments in Calgary: Training for the Life You Want to Keep Living
By Benjamin Kroon, Exercise Physiologist at Roxboro Clinic
Roxboro Clinic members in Calgary have access to the Clinical and Translational Exercise Physiology (CTEP) Lab, where trained professionals use research-grade equipment to measure aerobic fitness, strength, mobility, and other physical qualities, giving you an objective starting point for a training plan built around your life, not just your numbers. This is one of the allied health services included in every Roxboro membership.
Most people know they should exercise. The harder question is what they should actually be exercising for.
A faster 5K? A heavier squat? A better VO2max score?
Those can all be worthwhile goals. But I often encourage the people I work with at Roxboro to think further ahead.
What do you want to still be able to do 20, 30, or 40 years from now?
Maybe you want to hike in the mountains, travel without worrying about how much walking is involved, keep playing a sport you love, carry your own groceries, or pick up a grandchild. Perhaps you simply want to move through everyday life with confidence and independence.
Once you start thinking about exercise this way, the goal becomes bigger than fitness. It becomes about preserving the physical capacity to keep living the life you want.
Building a Body That Is Ready for Life
One of the best ways I have heard this idea expressed comes from exercise scientist Dr. Andy Galpin. He encourages people to think about the physical qualities they will need to continue doing the things they care about throughout their lives, and then deliberately develop those qualities over time.
I think this is a useful way to approach exercise at almost any age.
Rather than training only for what your body needs today, you are building a reserve for the future. That means developing more than one aspect of fitness. Aerobic capacity matters, but so do strength, power, balance, mobility and muscular endurance. You don't need to train every quality equally in every workout, and your priorities will naturally change throughout your life. What matters is that you continue developing and preserving them over time.
I often think about this in terms of physical resilience: the ability to encounter a new or unexpected physical demand without excessive soreness, injury, fear or loss of function.
Life is unpredictable. You may suddenly spend a day walking around a new city, help someone move, try a new sport, climb a steep trail on vacation, or simply have to lift something heavier than usual. A resilient body gives you a larger margin for those demands.
Why Test Fitness Before You Train
This is where exercise testing becomes genuinely useful, not just a nice-to-have.
One of the advantages Roxboro members in Calgary have is access to the CTEP Lab, where we can establish an objective baseline of important health and fitness measures.
There are plenty of easier ways to estimate fitness. Smartwatches, field tests and submaximal exercise tests can all provide useful information. But estimates are still estimates, and their results can vary depending on the method and the physiological information being used.
VO2max is a good example. Many estimates of VO2max rely heavily on heart rate and prediction equations. Having administered many of these tests myself, I have seen how relatively small differences in heart rate between testing sessions can meaningfully change the resulting estimate, even when the person's actual fitness may not have changed very much.
At the CTEP Lab, we measure instead of estimate. A baseline assessment typically covers:
Aerobic fitness: Direct VO2max testing using standardized protocols and research-grade equipment, not a heart-rate-based estimate
Strength: Your current capacity across major movement patterns
Mobility: Flags restrictions before they become injuries
Muscular endurance: How your body holds up under sustained demand
The point isn't simply to give someone a more accurate fitness score. It's to give us a better starting point. If we understand where your aerobic fitness, strength, mobility and other physical qualities are today, we can make much more informed decisions about where your exercise program should go next.
What the Numbers Actually Mean for You
Of course, collecting more health data isn't particularly useful if it simply leaves you with another report full of numbers.
One of the most common concerns I hear from people undergoing exercise testing is that they don't know what their results actually mean. I see an important part of my role as translating those results into something useful.
That starts by putting the findings into the context of the person's health, current exercise routine, goals and life circumstances. Often the results reinforce something they have already noticed themselves. Other times they reveal an area that deserves more attention.
Either way, the conversation shouldn't end with, "Here's your score."
If we measure something like ventilatory thresholds, for example, I want someone to understand what those thresholds tell us, how they relate to their aerobic fitness, and how we can use them to establish training intensities that are appropriate for them.
Most importantly, I incorporate those findings into the exercise programs and resources I provide, alongside the dietitian and nutrition support available to every member. You should be able to see the connection between what we learned about your body and what we're asking you to do next.
You Probably Don't Need a More Complicated Exercise Routine
There is an enormous amount of exercise advice available today, particularly online.
Zone 2. High-intensity intervals. VO2max. Mobility routines. Supplements. Recovery protocols.
Some of this information is valuable. But it can also create the impression that there is one perfect way to exercise, or that better health requires an increasingly complicated routine.
I think this can lead people to "major in the minors."
Take aerobic exercise. Zone 2 training receives a great deal of attention, as does high-intensity training. But these aren't competing philosophies where you have to choose the correct one. Different intensities produce different and complementary benefits.
Moderate-intensity exercise allows you to accumulate more training without creating excessive fatigue. Higher-intensity exercise provides a stronger stimulus and can improve measures such as VO2max relatively quickly, but it is also harder to perform frequently. For many people, a good program can include both.
The appropriate balance depends on the person: their current fitness, goals, preferences, available time and ability to recover.
The same principle applies to supplements. Something like creatine monohydrate can be useful in the right context, but no supplement can replace consistent exercise, adequate nutrition and sufficient sleep.
The fundamentals aren't particularly glamorous. In fact, effective exercise can sometimes look repetitive or even boring. That's partly why it works. Fundamental movements can be practiced consistently. Progress can be measured. Your body has time to adapt. Variety can absolutely make exercise more enjoyable and expose you to different challenges, but it should support the fundamentals rather than constantly replace them.
The Best Exercise Program Is One You Can Keep Doing
People often ask whether exercise needs to change dramatically as they get older.
Certain things will change, of course. But whether I'm working with someone younger or older, one of my first priorities is the same: establish a well-rounded routine that fits their life, can progress over time and includes activities they actually enjoy.
Consistency matters enormously. A theoretically perfect program isn't particularly useful if it is so demanding, complicated or unpleasant that someone can't sustain it.
Once that foundation is established, we can adjust the details. We can change frequency or intensity, place greater emphasis on strength or aerobic fitness, work around an injury, or train toward a particular goal. The program should be able to evolve as the person does.
Exercise as Preventive Care at Roxboro Clinic Calgary
This is one of the reasons I chose to work within Roxboro's longitudinal primary-care model in Calgary.
Exercise is often discussed as something separate from healthcare. I see it as an important part of preventive health.
We know that exercise can help reduce the risk of chronic disease, support the management of existing conditions and preserve physical function as we age. But meaningful improvements rarely come from a single assessment, conversation or exercise program.
They happen over time.
Working with members longitudinally gives us the opportunity to establish a baseline, develop an individualized plan, evaluate how that plan is working and adjust it as someone's health, goals and circumstances change.
When someone returns to the CTEP Lab for reassessment, we can look objectively at changes in aerobic fitness, strength, mobility and the other areas we have been working on.
But those numbers are only part of the picture.
Success might mean having more energy. Feeling stronger. Returning to an activity you had stopped doing. Managing symptoms more effectively. Feeling confident enough to try something that once seemed physically intimidating.
Ultimately, the numbers help us measure progress. What matters most is whether that progress allows you to feel better, function better, and keep doing the things that make your life your own.
Ready to get your baseline? Book a CTEP Lab assessment at Roxboro Clinic Calgary. Want to learn more about the team behind it? Meet Roxboro's physicians and allied health professionals.
