Measured, not estimated. Gareth reads it with you.
Many people are training at the wrong intensity and therefore wasting their time and not getting the results they want or deserve. A heart-rate monitor is the first piece of kit — but just using one is not enough. You have to train in the correct zones for you, and determining those zones requires blood lactate and VO2 max testing, not a formula from your age.
Metabolic testing — blood lactate and VO2 max — is vital for the optimal development of the endurance athlete. These are the undisputed gold standards for fitness testing, and the secret used by the world’s fastest ever endurance athletes. They allow you to see what is happening inside your exercising body and to optimise your training so that every second counts. Testing is just as vital for a beginner as it is for a seasoned athlete.
Testing unveils the balance of your personal metabolic fitness. From there your training can be shaped and guided so that you reach your true potential in your chosen sport.
An assessment with Coach Gareth is not like any other lab test. It is the chance for an athlete to spend one2one time with him, uncovering what will make that athlete hit their true potential. All tests are performed by Gareth Thomas — not some newly qualified lab tech — and he brings 30 years of experience and the knowledge from the thousands of tests he has performed.
Gareth is the Lactate Guru. He has spent more than 30 years coaching endurance athletes, from complete beginners to world and national champions, Kona qualifiers, Leadville finishers and sub-2:50 marathoners. He raced professionally as a triathlete and competed for Team Great Britain. He spent six years as head coach of UCLA Triathlon, has written several books on endurance training, and is qualified through FFI, NCF, RAW and ITEC.
Every test at the lab is run by him and explained by him. That is the whole difference. Plenty of places in Los Angeles own the same equipment — the machine is not what you are paying for. You do not get emailed a PDF and left to interpret it.
You do not need to be a serious athlete to get tested. Roughly half the people tested at the lab are not racing anything. RMR and VO2 max testing are used just as often for body composition, longevity and general health as they are for performance, and the protocol is scaled to whatever you can currently do.
Runners, cyclists, triathletes and Ironman athletes come for race performance and training zones. People who hate racing but still want to train properly come for the same numbers. Driven people who want to reach their true potential — whatever level that starts from — are the usual appointment. Gareth works with beginners and with world and national champions in the same room, on the same protocol.
The lab is ECLYPSE Fitness Lab, created by Coach Gareth, at 1736 Ashland Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405. It serves athletes across Los Angeles, the Westside, Venice, Culver City and the South Bay. Hours are Tuesday to Friday 10–7, Saturday and Sunday 12–5, Monday closed. Call (858) 361-4733 or email cg@coachgareth.com.
Most people arrive unsure which test they need — and the names don't help. So pick the outcome you're after and the right test is the one underneath it.
The most precise picture of how your body clears lactate — and the intensity you can actually hold.
The maximum amount of oxygen your body can use under load — the single best-studied marker of cardiovascular fitness.
Most people want more than one number. These bundle the tests that actually go together for your sport, at less than booking them separately.
Every price includes the consultation and a full explanation of your results. Not sure? Call (858) 361-4733 and Gareth will tell you which one is worth your money.
Step one in the process is usually the lactate test. You test in your own discipline — a bicycle ergometer on your own bike for cyclists, a treadmill for runners, and for triathletes both of those and sometimes a pool-based swimming test.
A test session takes 30–40 minutes of actual testing, progressing through 4–8 stages. Allow around an hour in total, which includes the setup and the consultation where Gareth reads your results back to you. You do not need to be a serious athlete. The protocol is scaled to whatever you can currently do.
You test in your own discipline — treadmill for runners, ergometer for cyclists, pool for swimmers. The data is only useful if it comes from the movement you actually train.
The session steps up through 4–8 stages of increasing intensity. Each stage is held long enough for your body to settle at that effort before anything is recorded.
A small blood sample is taken at the end of each stage with a fresh single-use needle. It takes seconds and you keep moving between stages.
You do not get emailed a PDF and left to interpret it. Every test is read back to you in person, in plain language, with what to change on Monday morning.
The session steps up through 4 to 8 stages of gradually increasing intensity, depending on your current fitness level. Each stage is held long enough for your body to settle at that effort before anything is recorded. After each stage a small blood sample is taken from a fingertip or earlobe with a fresh single-use needle. It takes a few seconds. Most people describe it as a brief pinprick. You keep moving between stages.
The whole test lasts usually in the 30–40 minute range. Allow around an hour in total, which includes the setup and the consultation where Gareth reads your results back to you in person, in plain language, with what to change on Monday morning.
We try to test in a repeatable environment so we can compare tests done throughout the season and against previous years. Each athlete should retest every 9 to 12 weeks to monitor progress.
You leave with your personal heart-rate training zones, your aerobic and steady-state thresholds, your Fat-Max intensity, custom workouts built from your own numbers, and a fuelling and hydration plan. Every test is explained in person rather than emailed over as a report.
The zones are delivered as heart-rate and pace or power ranges you can load straight into a watch or head unit. One of the main things people come to the lab to find is their Zone 2. We do find this, and it is vital for the full development — and the health — of the aerobic system. We also find the thresholds and the balance of the aerobic and anaerobic systems, then tune those systems through accurate heart-rate zone training.
Three tests, three jobs. If you are still deciding, start from the goal rather than the name.
Race performance & training zones
Cardiovascular fitness & longevity
Metabolism & fuelling
A blood lactate test measures how your body produces and clears lactate as intensity rises, which gives you your aerobic and threshold training zones. A VO2 max test measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise, which gives you your aerobic ceiling and your Fat-Max fuelling intensity. Lactate testing is the better choice if you are training for a race; VO2 max is the better choice if you want a single objective marker of cardiovascular fitness.
Still not sure? Call (858) 361-4733. There's no sales pitch — if a test isn't worth it for you, he'll say so.
A blood lactate test measures how your body produces and clears lactate as intensity rises, which gives you your aerobic and threshold training zones. A VO2 max test measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise, which gives you your aerobic ceiling and your Fat-Max fuelling intensity. Lactate testing is the better choice if you are training for a race; VO2 max is the better choice if you want a single objective marker of cardiovascular fitness.
A test session takes 30 to 40 minutes of actual testing, progressing through 4 to 8 stages. Allow around an hour in total, which includes the setup and the consultation where Gareth reads your results back to you.
It is a small sample taken from a fingertip or earlobe with a fresh single-use needle after each stage, and it takes a few seconds. Most people describe it as a brief pinprick. You stay on the treadmill or bike throughout.
No. Roughly half the people tested at the lab are not racing anything. RMR and VO2 max testing are used just as often for body composition, longevity and general health as they are for performance, and the protocol is scaled to whatever you can currently do.
Every 9 to 12 weeks. That is long enough for a training block to produce real physiological change and short enough that your zones do not drift out of date while you are still training to them.
You leave with your personal heart-rate training zones, your aerobic and steady-state thresholds, your Fat-Max intensity, custom workouts built from your own numbers, and a fuelling and hydration plan. Every test is explained in person rather than emailed over as a report.
A blood lactate test is $350, a VO2 max test is $275, and an RMR test is $175. A combined VO2 max and RMR test in one visit is $450. Every price includes the consultation and a full explanation of your results.
The lab is at 1736 Ashland Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405, and serves athletes across Los Angeles, the Westside, Venice, Culver City and the South Bay. Call (858) 361-4733 to book.
Coach and sports scientist — the “Lactate Guru”. A plan built around your race, your schedule and your own data, adjusted as you go and retested every 9–12 weeks.
The lab is at 1736 Ashland Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405, and serves athletes across Los Angeles, the Westside, Venice, Culver City and the South Bay. If you arrived looking for one test in particular, start here.
One hour in the lab in Santa Monica, and you’ll know exactly how your body produces energy — and precisely how hard to go.
