Treadmill control protocols for arbitrary work rate profiles combining simultaneous nonlinear changes in speed and angle

Treadmill training and testing applications combine changes in speed and angle to achieve a target work rate profile. Here we derive new methods which increase the flexibility available in the design of such protocols.Current methods of computing speed and angle are first reformulated in terms of work rate, rather than time, so that the existing limitation to work rate ramps is removed: the new methods allow arbitrary changes in work rate over time. New solutions are derived which allow the speed and angle functions to be positioned arbitrarily within the available speed and angle envelopes. It is shown that the methods can be easily specialised to the particular case of an incremental exercise test where work rate is defined to increase linearly with respect to time.The new methods facilitate the definition of arbitrary, possibly discontinuous, work rate profiles while permitting complete flexibility in the design of speed and angle profiles for treadmill training and testing applications.