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Purpose To extend currently available sex and age-specific normative values in children and adolescents for the peak work rate (WR peak) attained at the steep ramp test (SRT) to healthy active young adults. Methods Healthy male and female participants aged between 19 and 24 years were recruited. After screening and anthropometric measurements, participants performed a SRT on a cycle ergometer (increments of 25 W/10 s), monitoring and recording SRT-WR peak , heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP) at rest and directly after peak exercise. Results Fifty-seven participants (31 males and 26 females; median age of 21.3 years) volunteered and were tested. Anthropometrics, resting BP and lung function were all within normal ranges. Ninety-three percent of the participants attained a peak HR (HR peak) > 80% of predicted (mean HR peak 87 ± 5% of predicted). No differences were found in resting and peak exercise variables between females and males, except for absolute SRT-WR peak (350 W [Q1: 306; Q3: 371] and 487 W [Q1: 450; Q3: 517], respectively) and SRT-WR peak normalized for body mass (relative SRT-WR peak ; 5.4 ± 0.5 and 6.2 ± 0.6 W/ kg, respectively). Low-to-moderate correlations (ρ [0.02-0.71]) were observed between SRT-WR peak and anthropometric variables for females and males separately. Extended reference curves (8-24-year-old subjects) for SRT performance show different trends between male and female subjects when modelled against age, body height, and body mass. Conclusions The present study provides sex-, age-, body height-, and body mass-related normative values (presented as reference centiles) for absolute and relative SRT performance throughout childhood and early adulthood. Keywords Exercise testing • Field test • Cycle ergometry • Aerobic fitness • Cardiorespiratory fitness Abbreviations ACSM American College of Sports Medicine BMI Body mass index BP Blood pressure BSA Body surface area COPD Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease CPET Cardiopulmonary exercise testing CRF Cardiorespiratory fitness ECG Electrocardiogram FEV 1 Forced expiratory volume in one second Communicated by Anni Vanhatalo.

Background There currently is no field test available for measuring maximal exercise capacity in people with stroke. Objective To determine the feasibility, reproducibility and validity of the Shuttle Test (ST) to measure exercise capacity in people with stroke. Design Longitudinal study design. Setting Rehabilitation department, day care centres from a nursing home and private practices specialized in neuro rehabilitation. Subjects People with subacute or chronic stroke. Interventions A standardized protocol was used to determine feasibility, reproducibility and validity of the 10-meter Shuttle Test (10mST). Main measures Number of shuttles completed, 1 st Ventilatory Threshold (1 st VT). Results The associations of the number of shuttles completed and cardiopulmonary capacity as measured with a portable gas analyser were r > 0.7, confirming good convergent validity in subacute and chronic people with stroke. Criterion validity, however, indicates it is not a valid test for measuring maximal cardiopulmonary capacity (VO 2max ). Only 60% of participants were able to reach the 1 st VT. Higher cardiopulmonary capacity and a higher total score of the lower extremity Motricity Index contributed significantly to a higher number of shuttles walked (p = 0.001). Conclusions The Shuttle Test may be a safe and useful exercise test for people after stroke, but may not be appropriate for use with people who walk slower than 2 km/h or 0.56 m/s.