HEALTH & HUMAN PERFORMANCE LAB

at Meredith College

Located on the campus of Meredith College, this state-of-the-art Health and Human Performance Lab features unique fitness and anthropometric testing equipment to support Meredith students and the local community with measuring performance and wellness goals.

About Meredith’s Health and Human Performance Lab

The Health and Human Performance Lab is located in Meredith’s newly built Communication and Health, Exercise and Sport Sciences Building (CHESS), featuring cutting-edge equipment to prepare students for employment and graduate programs. The lab also helps support community members in their health and wellness goals.

FOR STUDENTS: With a focus on health and wellness, the lab provides early access to research and clinical practices. Our goal is to inspire health, exercise and sport sciences students to become researchers and practitioners in a field of study in which women are traditionally underrepresented.

FOR THE COMMUNITY: The public, both men and women, can utilize our services. For a small fee, we provide BOD POD testing to assess body composition, as well as, Resting Metabolic Rate and Max VO2 tests to assess metabolic markers to aid individuals on their fitness journeys and setting performance goals.

Services Offered

The Health and Human Performance Lab is dedicated to assisting athletes, health practitioners, and anyone in the community looking to establish a baseline or measure their progress in lifestyle modification, performance, or fitness goals.

BOD POD Test

This body composition test will generate a breakdown of fat mass vs. fat-free mass, total body fat percentage, comparison with healthy ranges, and population data (percentile, Z-score).

  • Regardless of your health goals and fitness level, regularly scheduled body composition assessments can provide the following 

    • Measure your progress
      • Monitoring body composition over time will reveal your progress and allow an individual to assess what is working with a current fitness and/or nutritional strategy or if changes need to be made. 
    • Set attainable, time-bound goals
      • Measuring your body composition over time can help you track the changes you wish to see in your physique and aid in setting healthy, responsible goals for these changes. 
  • General Public 
    • $55 for one test 
    • $45 for a repeat test
    • $40 /12 for one year, once-per-month subscription
  • Meredith Faculty/Staff 
    • $35 a test
  • Meredith Students
    • $25 a test
  • Group Discount
    • Groups of <5 $5 discount 
    • Groups of 5-10 $15 discount 
    • Groups of >10 $15 discount
Bod Pod with lid opened for ESS Lab Testing.

Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) Test​

The resting metabolic rate test calculates the number of calories your body uses when at rest so you can determine your daily caloric intake. You will also receive your estimated Total Energy Expenditure (TEE).​

  • Testing your metabolic rate will provide you with information about how many calories you burn at rest. 
    • Everyone is different in this measure. Resting metabolic rate is influenced by 
      • Age 
      • Gender 
      • Body fat and muscle mass 
      • Fitness level 
      • Ethnicity 
      • Environmental factors like smoking and climate
  • People with the same weight and height can have very different metabolic rates and energy needs. 
  • The RMR can provide the profile of fat and carbohydrates you use for energy and your rate of oxygen use during the average day. 
    • This is useful to help you know the amount of energy you use at rest and will help you better understand the amount of energy you need from food. 
    • It will also help you in setting goals for weight loss or weight management.
  • General Public 
    • $55 for one test 
    • $45 for a repeat test
  • Meredith Faculty/Staff 
    • $40 for one test
  • Meredith Student 
    • $30 for one test
RMR Test Test in Health and Human Performance Lab.

MAX VO2 Test

The maximal fitness test determines your peak aerobic fitness level or how much oxygen is used by your muscles during an “all-out” effort. This is important because higher fitness levels relate to better endurance performance and low risk for lifestyle disease.

  • The test can identify the physiological limit of aerobic endurance.
  • It can also aid in approximating training zones for improving endurance and cardiovascular health by serving as a tool to establish optimal heart rate zones for targeted exercise. 
    • These targeted heart rate zones can help with fitness goals for weight loss by showing the fat and carbohydrate use in progressive or prolonged exercise bouts. 
  • You will find the ventilatory threshold and which exercise intensities you can train to improve your submaximal power. 
  • This test can be customized for a treadmill or a stationary cycle.
  • General Public 
    • $110 for one test 
    • $90 for a repeat test
  • Meredith Faculty/Staff
    • $85 for one test 
  • Meredith Student
    • $65 for one test
MAX Vo2 Test in Health and Human Performance Lab.

Student Research Opportunities

As part of Meredith’s Undergraduate Research Program, students can use the Health and Human Performance Lab as a component for their research projects.

Student Research in Health and Human Performance Lab.
HEALTH & HUMAN PERFORMANCE LAB

Contact Information
Dr. Edward Robinson
Associate Professor, Health, Exercise, and Sport Sciences Science and Director, Health and Human Performance Lab
HHPL@meredith.edu

Nutrition Health & Human Performance Dept. »
School of Education Health & Human Sciences »