VO2 Max Explained: What It Is and The right way to Improve It

“What do you bench, bud?” Everyone has been asked this before and possibly asks it as well. Nevertheless, has anyone ever asked you, “How much are you able to absorb and utilize oxygen, bud?”  Probably not.

This refers to your VO2 max and isn’t talked about within the gym. Nevertheless, possibly it should since it’s the one best indicator of your overall health and fitness levels. So, what exactly is your VO2 max? This text will lay it out for you.

What Is Your VO2 Max?

VO2 max measures the body’s ability to soak up and utilize oxygen, specifically during high-intensity exercises. The “V” stands for volume, while the “O2” stands for oxygen.

Once you breathe, your lungs transfer oxygen to your red blood cells, delivering it to your body’s organs and muscles. Your muscle cells require oxygen to supply adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the first energy source for muscle activity.

The more oxygen you possibly can inhale, the more ATP your muscles can generate, providing the energy needed to power your workouts. This increased demand for oxygen can also be why you breathe faster during exercise.

By having higher VO2 max, your body can higher utilize the identical amount of oxygen. Which means your body can produce more energy, leading to more efficient exercise.

What Influences Your VO2 max Rating?

Your VO2 max is a measurement of your overall cardiorespiratory system. With that in mind, there are mainly three attributes that dictate your VO2 max.

• Lung and Heart Capability: A bigger set of lungs and heart will increase the quantity of blood your body can pump.
• Capillary Health: Your capillaries deliver oxygen to your muscles. A healthier set ensures higher delivery.
• Muscle Efficiency: Once the blood gets to your muscles stuffed with oxygen, your muscles must then have the option to put it to use.

Take into consideration a Chinese buffet. The actual food displays are the capillaries that deliver the food, your oxygen-rich blood. Then there’s you, the VO2 max. Once you go to the buffet, do you get half a plate after which call it quits? Or do you replenish two plates at a time?

Although there’s loads of food, someone with a low VO2 max would only get half a plate and return to eat. However, someone with a high VO2 max would get 2 plates or more and return to eat.

How Can You Measure Your VO2 Max?

As you read this, you are probably excited by your VO2 max. While it’s interesting to know the VO2 max of your on a regular basis athletes, much more advanced ones don’t really want to comprehend it.

While it will possibly be useful for training purposes in elite and skilled athletes, others just have to see their endurance increasing and assume this correlates with a rise in VO2 max.

With that said, there are two principal categories of testing your VO2 max:

1. Laboratory testing
2. Estimating through endurance tests

We’ll go over a summary of those now.

Laboratory Testing For VO2 max

The primary one, laboratory testing, is probably the most accurate. Nevertheless, as “laboratory” implies, you possibly can’t do these at your normal gym. You have probably seen an image or video with certainly one of these. These videos often include an athlete with a mask on while using a treadmill or cycling.

Well, those masks are specialized equipment to measure VO2 max. The mask sits on the athlete’s face and captures airflow as they breathe. The air is brought right down to a machine, which measures an individual’s oxygen uptake and volume.

This method gives you a really accurate number because it measures your oxygen. Nevertheless, while these gyms are beginning to be seen in additional prestigious gyms, they’re still rare.

Estimating VO2 max Through Aerobic Tests

The nice thing is that you simply need not use specialized aerobic equipment to check your VO2 max. Relatively, you should use various aerobic tests to estimate your number.

A few of these tests include:

• Astrand treadmill test¹
• 2.4 km run test
• Multistage bleep test
• Cooper 1.5-mile walk-run test²
• Rockport 1-mile walk test
• Treadmill test³

All of those tests have different protocols to check your VO2 max. Nevertheless, all of them have the essential premise that you simply complete the test and use your numbers to receive a rating. You then compare the rating to a specifically designed graph to match your numbers.

For instance, the Cooper 1.5 mile test simply has you run 1.5 miles as fast as possible. You then compare that to the numbers they supply.

Below, we’ll list the scores which you can use to rate yourself.

VO2 Max = 15.3 x (MHR/RHR)

One other option to get an estimate of your VO2 max is thru this straightforward equation:

• MHR= Maximum heart rate
• RHR= Resting heart rate

In fact, this requires you to know your heart rate values.

What Is A Good VO2 max Rating?

So, to illustrate you exit to the local laboratory at some point to check your VO2 max or possibly just the track. You get a number, but then what? Well, here’s a graph that may offer you an idea of what the VO2 max looks like for various people divided by:

If you’ve got a number, look it over and see where you stand. These numbers were taken from the Mayo Clinic.⁴

Typical VO₂ max for males measured in mL/kg/min by age:

Typical VO₂ max for females measured in mL/kg/min by age:

5 Advantages Of Improving Your VO2 max

So why does this number even matter? Well, do not forget that VO2 max measures your body’s ability to utilize oxygen. Due to this fact, the primary and possibly most blatant profit is your endurance and work output will probably be much higher.

Take into consideration your VO2 max as your 1RM for respiratory. Now, let’s pretend your 1RM bench press is 225 lbs, and also you’re performing reps of 180 lbs, which is 80%. You then begin a training regime and increase your 1RM to 250 lbs. Once you return to lifting 180 lbs, it’s now much lighter at just 72% of your 1RM. This makes it feel easier, and you possibly can perform more reps.

We are able to then apply that exact scenario to VO2 max. Once you increase your VO2 max, running at a certain speed will feel easier. As mentioned above, this can also be often related to a lower heart rate.

With that said, there are various more advantages to improving your VO2 max than simply increasing endurance.

1. Increase Longevity

Your VO2 max ultimately measures the health and efficiency of your cardiorespiratory system. That is pretty necessary because it comprises your heart, lungs, and veins! Due to this fact, it is sensible that your VO2 max is an indicator of not only fitness but health. Some studies suggest that your VO2 max is the one best indicator of future longevity.⁵

2. Improved Metabolic Health

While it is probably not obvious initially, improved fitness health, including increased VO2 max, is related to decreased metabolic dysfunction.⁶ 

For instance, a better VO2 max helps your body use insulin higher and keeps blood sugar levels in check, ultimately reducing the danger of type 2 diabetes. You may also have the option to burn more fat more efficiently, which can increase body fat.

Regular cardio that reinforces VO2 max may lower bad cholesterol and lift good cholesterol, benefiting heart health. Plus, it increases energy production in muscle cells and reduces inflammation linked to health issues.

Higher VO2 max simply means you possibly can train longer and harder, which helps with weight reduction. Overall, it indicates a healthier heart and higher blood flow throughout the body.

3. Decrease Risk Of Chronic Disease

We went over the incontrovertible fact that increased VO2 max is related to longevity. One in every of the mechanisms by which this works is thru a decrease in chronic disease. Again, VO2 max increases the strength of your heart and lungs, which has a serious impact in your body’s health. This includes:

• Lower blood pressure
• Reduced resting heart rate
• Reduced risk of stroke and heart disease

At the identical time, higher aerobic fitness is vital for weight management and decreasing obesity. As we all know, obesity is said to an array of health issues like hypertension, diabetes, and certain cancers.

It also supports higher bone health and muscle function, lowering the danger of osteoporosis and frailty in older adults. Improved cardiovascular fitness can decrease chronic inflammation linked to many diseases, including heart disease and diabetes.

Moreover, a better VO2 max is related to higher mental health, including reduced anxiety and depression.⁷ Since mental health is closely tied to physical health, higher fitness can result in lower rates of chronic diseases overall.

4. Improved Recovery

One other performance improvement!

The next VO2 max helps your heart and lungs deliver oxygen more efficiently to your muscles during and after exercise. It hastens recovery by reducing fatigue and clearing lactic acid. It also improves blood flow, providing nutrients for recovery and removing waste products.

Regular training increases muscle strength and resilience, resulting in less soreness after strenuous workouts. With a better VO2 max, you possibly can sustain exercise intensity longer and interact in effective recovery activities like light jogging or cycling.

After training, you may also return to your resting heart rate more quickly after exercise, showing higher recovery. Lastly, improved aerobic fitness helps replenish glycogen stores, which is crucial for recovery and preparing on your next workout.

5. Increase Energy And Stamina

Increased energy levels and stamina can majorly impact quality of life. You are feeling higher, have increased cognition, and may get more done.

Improving your VO2 max improves your muscles’ ability to make use of oxygen for energy, allowing you to work harder without getting drained and exercise for longer. The next VO2 max also means your body is more efficient at aerobic metabolism, which is vital for endurance and reduces fatigue.

It helps you burn fat more effectively, saving glycogen stores for energy during long activities. Regular training increases the variety of capillaries in your muscles, improving oxygen and nutrient delivery while helping remove waste, which boosts endurance and reduces fatigue.

Moreover, a better VO2 max indicates a stronger heart and higher cardiovascular function, resulting in more efficient blood flow that supports stamina.

How To Increase Your VO2 max

So, let’s get to it. How are you going to increase your VO2 max?

Weight Loss

Probably the greatest ways to extend your VO2 max is to lose fat. The equation by which it’s measured, mL/kg/min, shows that it’s directly proportional to weight (kg refers to kilogram of body weight). Due to this fact, your VO2 max will increase as you drop a few pounds, assuming your cardio stays the identical.

Training Increases VO2 max

Apart from weight reduction, the excellent news is that increasing one’s VO2 max is comparatively easy for the typical person. Any form of training that is more intense than the person is used to can increase VO2 max.

We are able to sometimes hear about this training, which is best on your cardio. While there are some differences, in point of fact, you only have to work out harder! We are able to take a look at improving your VO2 max in the identical manner as your 1RM through the use of progressive overload.

With that said, there are really two variables you have to consider:

Research shows that when comparing longer-duration exercise at moderate intensity (60-80%) to shorter-duration exercise at high intensity (90%+), there is no such thing as a difference within the magnitude of improvements.⁸

This has been seen in lots of studies, comparable to this meta-analysis that concluded:

“Overall, evidence from this overview suggests that the apparent differences between LIT and HIT protocols on VO2 max were either small, trivial, or inconclusive…”

In other words, running a 10K can have the identical effects on VO2 max as performing Tabatas. Actually, research suggests which you can even include VO2 max at an intensity as little as 60%.⁹ The first factor is you are pushing yourself.

Can Weightlifting Increase VO2 max?

Yep! We do not often consider resistance training as “cardio,” and while it doesn’t “count” as cardio, it will possibly definitely increase your VO2 max, especially for beginners.

Lifting weights with high intensity (using proper loads and training near failure) puts an enormous demand in your heart. While it is probably not continuous, the pressure placed on the cardio system will be huge, with blood pressure reaching maximum heights during 1RM attempts.

This stress over time has a positive effect in your VO2 max and may cause a rise. Now, this does appear to have a bigger effect for adults with numbers around average.¹⁰ 

Some average scores include:

• Older adults: <25 ml/kg/min
• Younger adults: <40 ml/kg/min

With that said, you would modify your weight training to possibly increase your VO2 max more, comparable to using:

That said, cardio continues to be the optimal mode of coaching to extend your numbers, so make sure to include it 2-3 times per week.

Final Words On VO2 max

So, while VO2 max is not discussed often, and you’ll likely never discuss your numbers together with your friends, you now know what it’s and why it is so necessary. Your VO2 max is an intricate a part of your fitness, and the necessary thing is that a better VO2 max means a fitter person. Unfortunately (or fortunately), you will still have to do your cardio if you must optimize your rating, but just comprehend it means you are going to be healthier!

References

1. Beltz, Nicholas M., et al. “Graded Exercise Testing Protocols for the Determination of VO2max: Historical Perspectives, Progress, and Future Considerations.” Journal of Sports Medicine, vol. 2016, no. 3968393, 2016, pp. 1–12, www.hindawi.com/journals/jsm/2016/3968393/, https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3968393.
2. Mayorga-Vega, Daniel, et al. “Criterion-Related Validity of the Distance- and Time-Based Walk/Run Field Tests for Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Evaluation.” PLOS ONE, vol. 11, no. 3, 17 Mar. 2016, p. e0151671, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151671.
3. American Heart Association. “Exercise Stress Test.” Www.heart.org, 2015, www.heart.org/en/health-topics/heart-attack/diagnosing-a-heart-attack/exercise-stress-test.
4. Kaminsky, Leonard A., et al. “Reference Standards for Cardiorespiratory Fitness Measured with Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, vol. 90, no. 11, Nov. 2015, pp. 1515–1523, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.07.026.
5. Strasser, Barbara, and Martin Burtscher. “Survival of the Fittest: VO2max, a Key Predictor of Longevity?” Frontiers in Bioscience, vol. 23, no. 8, 1 Mar. 2018, pp. 1505–1516, https://doi.org/10.2741/4657.
6. Mj, LaMonte, et al. “Cardiorespiratory Fitness Is Inversely Related to the Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome: A Prospective Study of Men and Women.” Circulation, 26 July 2005, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16009797/.
7. Osei-Tutu, Kannin B., and Phil D. Campagna. “The Effects of Short- vs. Long-Bout Exercise on Mood, VO2max., and Percent Body Fat.” Preventive Medicine, vol. 40, no. 1, Jan. 2005, pp. 92–98, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.05.005. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.
8. SCRIBBANS, TRISHA D, et al. “The Effect of Training Intensity on VO2max in Young Healthy Adults: A Meta-Regression and Meta-Evaluation.” International Journal of Exercise Science, vol. 9, no. 2, Apr. 2016, p. 230, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4836566/.
9. Crowley, Emmet, et al. “The Effect of Exercise Training Intensity on VO2max in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.” Translational Sports Medicine, vol. 2022, 24 Feb. 2022, pp. 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/9310710.
10. Ozaki, Hayao, et al. “Resistance Training Induced Increase in VO2max in Young and Older Subjects.” European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, vol. 10, no. 2, 15 Jan. 2013, pp. 107–116, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11556-013-0120-1.