What Your VO2max Really Means
Many fitness trackers these days tell you your VO2max, sometimes calling it “cardio fitness” or telling you that you are better than a certain percentage of the population. While it is interesting to watch this number change during exercise, it is not necessarily a good indicator of your fitness.
Suitability can be tested and measured in many different ways, and no single indicator can tell the whole story. For example, someone might be strong enough to lift 800 pounds but can’t do more than a few push-ups. Someone else may be a fast sprinter, but will end up behind the rest in long-distance running. Our muscles, lungs and all other parts of our body work together to provide athletic performance, and there is no single number that defines “fitness.”
What is VO2max anyway?
We have a whole explanation , but in short: the higher your VO2max, the harder your body can work for extended periods of time. A person with a higher VO2max can overtake a person with a lower VO2max, all other things being equal, because they can maintain a higher speed during training.
It is called VO2max because the traditional way of testing it – in the laboratory where you are connected to a breathing mask – is to measure the maximum (maximum) volume (V) of oxygen (O2) you can take and use. in a minute. (It is measured in milliliters of oxygen consumed in one minute per kilogram of body weight.)
The higher the better; a person who does little cardio may have a VO2max of about 20 years, and an endurance athlete about 40 years or more. Age and gender also affect your scores: women tend to score lower than men, and older people get a lower score than younger people. (This is why fitness trackers often compare your performance to that of other people of your age and gender.)
That’s for sure?
Fitness trackers estimate your VO2max based on the data collected. So no, they are not as accurate as the VO2max test in the lab. However, the room can be helpful.
Usually, the tracker uses your heart rate and your speed during a distance workout (like running) to make an educated guess about how good your cardio is. If your heart beats out of your chest when you run a 10-minute mile, you probably have a lower VO2max than someone whose heart rate only increases slightly during rest when they run a 10-minute mile.
The actual calculation uses other factors, including your weight, as VO2max is based on your body weight, so if you want to keep track of your VO2max readings, make sure your information in the app is up to date. And make sure you really run over from time to time to feed him data. If you never do the workouts that your gadget uses to measure VO2max, you will not get accurate or useful results.
To find out what kind of workout it is, look for information on your watch. They usually look for running or brisk walking workouts that last at least 10 minutes and that raise their heart rate to a reasonable cardio zone. You will also get the most accurate results if you are on level ground rather than hills. Here’s Fitbit ‘s explanation and Apple’s explanation of how they calculate VO2max. Garmin has five different ways to calculate VO2max .
What can I learn from my VO2max?
Assuming you are getting the most accurate estimate your gadget can provide, all you need to do is watch your VO2max increase as you improve your cardiovascular fitness. If you follow the numbers strictly, you might get a little panicky if you take a break and see how it changes – which I would say is a good argument not to pay too much attention to it.
After all, why are you exercising? If you’re preparing for a race, your training and pace against the clock should let you know if you’re getting faster. If you’re only doing cardio for general health, sticking to a sensible schedule automatically means you’re getting the job done no matter what happens to your numbers. So think about whether this number is useful to you or not.
With that said, if you want to improve your VO2max, you can do cardio more often, more consistently, and sometimes at a faster pace. Both long slow workouts and short quick workouts improve your cardio fitness, and an ideal exercise program would include both.
What isn’t VO2max telling me?
Your calculated VO2max does not tell you how strong your muscles are. It doesn’t tell you how agile you are or how skilled you are in your sport. It doesn’t tell you how effective your stride is, or how good you are at the thinking or planning required for long distance running. He can’t even tell you what your actual VO2max will be if you take a lab test.
The sports world is full of people who have been told that some metric – sometimes their VO2max, sometimes another number – would limit them, and then they would succeed anyway. It is also full of people who have good numbers but have never been able to justify them. The World of Runners notes that the 18-year-old cyclist who had the highest known VO2max, retired from the sport a few years later after “a short, unimpressive professional career.” Bottom line: VO2max isn’t everything.