How to Improve Your VO2 Max
Setting a new personal maximum is a great way to track your progress towards your fitness goals. So what’s the easiest way to do this? One helpful step is to improve your VO2 max , which is a measure of how much oxygen your body can take in and use during exercise. The more oxygen your body can use during a workout, the better your performance will be, whether you’re running long distances or playing sports like tennis or soccer.
How to measure your VO2 max
Your VO2 max is usually measured in a laboratory or health care facility , where you wear a mask that measures the amount of air you breathe in and out, and monitor your heart rate as you exercise, gradually increasing the intensity of your exercise. . At some point, depending on your level of fitness, the amount of oxygen you use will reach a plateau, after which your body will switch from aerobic to anaerobic respiration. This is your VO2 max. Generally speaking, the higher the plateau, the better your fitness level.
It takes a lot of specialized equipment to properly measure VO2 max, which means it’s usually only done for specific purposes. There are other ways to estimate VO2 max that require less equipment but are not as accurate, the so-called submaximal exercise tests . These tests usually involve structured exercise, such as running on a treadmill, and the results are used to calculate an estimated VO2 max. For example, in the Cooper test, you run or walk for as long as you can in 12 minutes, and then use that distance to estimate your VO2 max. If your test scores improve, this is a sign that your VO2 max has also improved.
The VO2 estimates provided by your activity tracker are calculated differently depending on the brand and model, but they usually include a comparison of running or walking speed with changes in heart rate, but these measurements are only rough estimates.
How to improve your VO2 max
There are two general strategies to help improve VO2 Max. The first is building your aerobic base , which is achieved by doing a lot of low-intensity aerobic exercise. In running, this will mean many long, slow miles with the goal of building up mileage over time. This increases your overall aerobic capacity, which in turn will help your body absorb and use oxygen more efficiently.
As Ironman physiologist and trainer Alan Cozens noted in his blog post for SimpliFaster, in his experience with athletes, the greatest gains in VO2 max tend to be achieved when their training plan includes a lot of low-intensity aerobic exercise.
In addition to those long, slow miles, you’ll want to add some more traditional “VO2 max” workouts, which involve short bursts of high-intensity work at 90-95% of your maximum heart rate . These short, intense bursts will help empower your body even more.
However, while it can be tempting (and rewarding) to push yourself every time you train, high-intensity intervals should only make up a small percentage of your total training program – for example, if you’re training for a race, you want to not overdo them too much. early. As Jason Fitzgerald wrote for Outside Magazine , you should avoid working at VO2 max for long periods of time as it is hard on the body. Instead, he advises , “save most of those intense, specific workouts for the final leg of training when you’re getting ready to race.”