Our mission is to provide access to athletes of all levels to elite level physiology testing and performance support services.
Located across London and with hubs around the UK.
07/05/2026
The only thing we LOVE more than testing you good people is NEW KIT DAY.
Can't wait to put our new COSMED QNRG through it's paces to deliver even more high quality data and insight to our Performance Testing Services.
Go to
www.athletelab.uk
To learn more
Just a selection of our hundreds of tests performed so far across our 3 London locations.
WE DON'T JUST DO RUNNING
We can test you on:
- Incline walking
- Rowing
- Cycling (including using your own bike set-up)
Vo2max, lactate, body composition, nutrition, strength, power, blood work and so much more.
Www.athletelab.uk
01/04/2026
He trained for months. He'd been tested. He still fell apart.🚨
And here's what makes this case particularly important — The methodology was sound in principle.
But the analyser was inaccurate. And critically, there was no cross-validation — no concurrent lactate profiling, no comparison against performance metrics, no sense-check against training RPE or race history.
There's a further point worth making. To an experienced practitioner, the numbers themselves should have raised questions. VT1 was identified at an intensity unusually high for an athlete of his training background — the kind of value that prompts a second look, a cross-reference with lactate, a conversation about training history. That scrutiny never happened. The data was accepted, the zones were issued, and the athlete had no reason to doubt either.
This is what separates rigorous testing from testing that merely looks rigorous.
But you can only catch that discrepancy if you have the experience to know what the numbers should look like in the first place.
Good testing isn't just about having a methodology or the 'kit'. It's about understanding the data and how to use it correctly.
Data + insight = success
🔗 athletelab.uk
24/03/2026
The heart or the muscle — what actually limits your endurance? 🫀🦵
This is one of the most debated questions in exercise physiology. And a 2021 review by van der Zwaard, Brocherie & Jaspers gives us the most complete answer yet — by going all the way down to the muscle fibre level.
Here's the honest answer: it's both, but they operate at different levels.
The heart sets the ceiling.
Classic one-legged exercise studies show the muscle can consume far more oxygen per unit mass when the heart isn't the bottleneck. Extra red blood cells and hyperoxic breathing both raise VO₂max — confirming that cardiac output is the primary limiter of absolute VO₂max.
The cardiovascular argument is strong.
But the muscle determines how close to that ceiling you race.
And this is where it gets interesting. Skeletal muscle characteristics alone explained 67% of the variance in performance VO₂ in elite cyclists. Mitochondrial oxidative capacity accounts for ~90% of VO₂max during cycling. Capillarisation + lactate threshold explained 92% of time-to-fatigue variance. In elite athlete groups — where cardiac outputs are similarly high — peripheral muscle factors become the decisive differentiator.
The key muscle-level players:
→ Type I fibre proportion — more efficient at endurance frequencies, directly linked to economy
→ Mitochondrial density — scales proportionally with VO₂max across cardiac patients to pro cyclists
→ Capillarisation — up to 9 capillaries per fibre in elite cyclists vs 3–4 in untrained. The bridge between cardiac delivery and mitochondrial uptake
→ Myoglobin — the underappreciated O₂ transporter inside the fibre, ~50% higher in Type I vs Type II
The practical synthesis: train your heart AND your muscle. Polarised training does both — long low-intensity work drives peripheral adaptations, targeted high-intensity blocks protect and develop cardiac function. Neither system operates in isolation.
Understanding which is your limiting factor is where physiology testing becomes genuinely useful.
Data + insight = success
🔗 athletelab.uk
Want to get the most out if your testing with us?
These 5 simple steps will help you perform at your very best.
Step 1. Be well rested, fatigue effects your results.
This means trying to avoid bad sleep, alcohol and hard training sessions in the days leading up to your test.
Step 2. Fuel correctly. You don't need to fuel aggressively with carbs, or sports drinks on the day of your test. The session is only going to be 20-30 minutes of 'work' of which only 6-9 minutes will be hard to very hard effort.
This means a normal, balanced diet with moderate carb intake (combined with rest), 3-4 meals with a normal portion size of carbs (pasta, rice, breads, potatoes etc.) the day before testing will be enough. Topping yourself up on the day of the test with 1-2 meals if testing in the afternoon. If testing in the morning, then a light breakfast or some fruit will do the job... not hungry? Don't worry, your energy stores will be full from the day before so you'll still be ready to rock.
Step 3. Familiarise yourself. If you're not used to running on a treadmill and want to conduct a running test, try to get a few sessions on a treadmill at varying speeds to build some confidence and lower pre-test nerves/anxiety.
Step 4. Dealing with nerves. Don't worry, this one's on us. We will give you as much time and encouragement/support as you need to feel comfortable and get used to the environment, wearing a mask etc. And give you a nice easy progression into your test so that your physiology 'settles down' and being there feels as natural as a stroll in the park.
Step 5. SORRY... but you might have to cut the caffeine especially if you are caffeine sensitive and it has an impact on your heart rate. For most people it's not an issue as exercise intensity is more of a driver of heart rate, but at lower intensity caffeine, especially in high doses, plus a bit of pre-testing excitement can impact on your heart rate especially at lower intensities effecting result. However, for most caffeine fiends, it won't have a significant impact especially if there's 4+ hours between consumption and your test.
See you soon.
Your test is just the beginning. ⚡
At Athlete Lab, the session itself is only part of the experience. Here's what happens after you leave:
📊 A DETAILED REPORT
Within 48 hours, you receive a comprehensive, individualised report — clear, visual, and built around your data.
🎯 ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS
We don't just tell you where you are. We tell you exactly what needs to change — and how — to move you closer to your goals.
📞 A FOLLOW-UP CALL
Included as standard. We walk you through your results, answer every question, and make sure you leave with complete clarity on your next steps.
Data without insight is meaningless.
Data + Insight = Success
📍 London | Physiology · Nutrition · Strength
🔗 athletelab.uk
One of the hardest things to know when booking your VO2 max is if your result is REALLY your true VO2 max.
There are 2 main reasons for this:
1. Some testing protocols won't push you to your true limit, using predetermined limits based on time or other measures that might mean you never reach a true max. At Athlete Lab we make sure (safely of course!) that you are getting a true representation of your maximum capacity.
2. All equipment kit is not all created equal. Unfortunately there are many metabolic testing systems out there and the accuracy and consistency of measurement can be problematic... to put it mildly.
An essential part your experience is having confidence that the team at Athlete Lab truly understand what good data looks like and how to get it.
We only use the leading metabolic analysis brands on the market (currently Cosmed), not cheaper and/or inaccurate tech that unfortunately many people aren't aware (even those using them) are not accurate enough to be practically useful.
We're not going to bash on certain brands, or businesses, but if you are going to book your test then it is important to know what equipment is used (so ask!) and to research the accuracy of those devices (particularly portable or wearable devices).
You need to know how accurate and reliable your results are and how confident you should be in the data to make informed training decisions... and of course, not throw away your hard earned money on bad data.
How we turn data into better performance...
Prior to your testing session we want to learn as much as possible about you to help us create the right protocols for you, and to make sure (alongside our conversations with you around your testing) that the data we analyse and recommendations we make are placed in the context of your goals and desired outcomes.
Once we know you better, and collected your data, our experts look at your profile, analyse your data and assess the relationship between your key metrics and your goals to identify the most effective approaches that you can use to improve your performance.
How does your engine translate to speed?
Do you use your engine efficiently?
How well can you sustain specific effort levels?
How do you best target the adaptations you need to get the most out of your performance?
All these questions answered... and more... with our report and follow-up consultation that comes as STANDARD with every booking.
After each of our sessions we make recommendations based on your data.
The one area that MOST recreational athletes can improve on is their running economy.
Running economy accounts for around 30-40% of performance and many of you are leaving bucket loads of performance on the table.
We measure economy by looking at your oxygen consumption per km (similar to miles per gallon in a car), from this we can infer how much performance gain you could get by implementing specific training that has been shown to improve economy and (again!) training that many athletes aren't doing effectively... if at all.
If you want to go another level deeper, we can assess key metrics that relate to economy (strength, power, gait analysis) to create an even more individualised program to pick those low hanging performance fruit.
If you want to learn more go to www.athletelab.uk
WE ARE TWO YEARS OLD...
Well we were last week 😁
Our website was officially launched in January 2024, with not much more than an idea, a lot of experience and a desire to help people become better.
We didn't even have a location to work out of fully at that time... just the belief that if we built it 'you' would come.
And that you did.
Within 6 months went from a one man band to a dynamic duo.
Despite getting the big fat ❌️ from everyone we reached out to for partnerships initially, being told it wouldn't have the market to work, we've now tested over 300 people, partnered with global brands, and had consistent and rapid growth.
We couldn't have done it without you.
Here's what the next 12 months holds...
Expansion to a more purpose built location.
Upgrading equipment and some new toys to play with.
Cheers 🍻 to another year!
| Monday | 6am - 8pm |
| Tuesday | 6am - 8pm |
| Wednesday | 6am - 8pm |
| Thursday | 6am - 8pm |
| Friday | 6am - 8pm |
| Saturday | 9am - 1:30pm |
| Sunday | 9am - 1:30pm |