Health Update: Southern’s CHAMP Center uses testing to measure fitness – What Experts Say

Alan Machuga huffed, puffed and had to confront the obvious: he needed to get back in shape.

He was not yet 60, but in the summer of 2024, the Torrington native accepted his rugby-playing daughter’s invitation to join her on a training run.

It did not go well. “I felt like crap during and after the run and knew this wasn’t a healthy place to be in,” he said.

So the Southern Connecticut State University alumnus said he decided to take advantage of Southern’s Connecticut Health, Athletic, and Mental Performance Center or CHAMP just “to get a baseline of where I was overall physically.” 

Sixteen months later, Machuga ran a marathon. He’s now training for half-marathon, aiming to improve his time, and he hopes CHAMP’s assessments will help. 

Whether it’s concern over emerging love handles or qualms about stride length, the CHAMP Center, which opened in 2024, offers personalized information about health for those who want to enhance their well-being or optimize their performance, said Dr. William Lunn, director of the CHAMP Center. “We test sports performance measures for athletes, we do health and wellness measures for people who are not athletes to ensure health,” he said and it offers athletes mental performance consulting. 

As more Americans turn to biometric sensors like Oura rings, Apple Watches and other wearable devices, CHAMP is employing similarly advanced technology to help people optimize their health and healthspan. These includes tests for athletes like Biodex assessments to measure the strength and power of specific muscle groups. Or Force Plates, a platform that tracks how much force and power a person produces when jumping or pulling. 

“The declines your physical body will encounter in your 60s and 70s …can be counteracted to some extent with the right physical activity: cardio and weight training,” said Machuga. “Quite frankly I wish I started thinking about this sooner.” 

By far, the two most popular tests CHAMP offers to the public are its full-body DEXA scan, which reveals bone density and body composition —what percentage of a person’s body is composed of lean mass, fat mass and visceral fat. “It has a fairly good estimate of visceral fat and too much visceral fat puts you at higher risk of metabolic disease, including heart disease, diabetes, some cancer and high blood lipids,” said Lunn. A DEXA scan measures bone density by passing a high and low-energy x-ray beam through the body, usually in the hip and the spine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Generally used to test for osteoporosis, it requires a person to lie down on a pad, while the machine passes over parts of the body, especially the hips, spin and femur, according to the CDC.

The second most popular test is CHAMP’s VO2 Max test, which measures how much oxygen a person can take in and use during intense exercise,  according to Cleveland Clinic. “We’re measuring the strength of your heart muscle to deliver oxygen,” Lunn said. “If you can do that well, then your risk of heart disease is pretty low, and, if a cardiac event were to happen to that individual, they would have a chance of surviving and recovering quicker,” he said.

The test is administered on a treadmill or bicycle. Participants fit a mask over their nose and mouth, which allows a tube to measure oxygen inhaled and carbon dioxide exhaled. And, yes, it’s hard, said Chris Becker, a graduate assistant at the center. “It’s the longest 30 seconds of your life,” he joked.

Lunn said those not physically capable of the challenge can get similar results with a less intense submaximal VO2 test., using a stationary bike that only brings a person to a heart rate suitable to their condition, Lunn said.

Some clients are semi-professional athletes or triathletes who want precise information, like what their lactate threshold is and at what point they reach it. That’s when the body moves from aerobic exercise, using oxygen as its main source of energy to anaerobic energy, when the body turns to glucose for short, challenging bursts of exercise, according to the National Library of Medicine. They want to know what their “substrate utilization” is to determine whether their bodies are burning mostly fat or carbohydrates at different exercise intensities. Runners may want to have their running gait analyzed either to prevent injury or run more efficiently, Lunn said.

“Some people will say, ‘I used to be very active. Now I’m pre-diabetic. I need to make a change,'” Lunn said. “We thoroughly debrief the clients of the results. Sometimes we say, ‘Whatever you’ve been doing in your personal lifestyle behavior, keep doing that,'” he said. “If the scores are lower, we might say, ‘You might want to take these numbers to your doctor.'”

Although most of CHAMP’s clients are athletes or fitness buffs, others are people like Machuga, who want baseline data about their cardiac health, body composition and strength said Lunn. The services are fee-based but do not require a prescription. CHAMP does not give advice or direction to clients, as a physician might. 

Machuga said the results have helped shape his training for his upcoming half-marathon. “It will allow me to know what my limits are for properly training.”

Afterwards, he plans to take the VO2 max test again. He thinks his numbers will improve.