The Importance of VO₂ Max
Why is VO₂ Max Becoming an Important Metric in the Wellness Industry?
If you've ever worn a fitness watch, you've probably come across the term VO₂ Max. It’s generally understood in the fitness world as a measure of cardiovascular fitness. But it offers us so much more.
What is VO₂ Max?
VO₂ max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can take in, transport, and use during intense exercise. Simply put, it measures how efficiently your heart, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles work together. Oxygen (O₂) is the fuel that powers your body. The more oxygen your body can deliver to working muscles, the more efficiently you can perform physical activity. VO₂ max is typically measured in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min). While the numbers themselves may not mean much on their own, they provide valuable insight into your aerobic fitness.
A good range for men over 40 would be 35 to 42 ml O₂/kg/min and women 29 to 35
A good range for men over 60 would be 32 to 36 ml O₂/kg/min and women 25 to 28
Why Should You Care?
Many people assume VO₂ max is only important if you're training for a marathon or competing in endurance sports, but to be honest it's relevant to everyone.
A higher VO₂ Max is associated with:
Better cardiovascular fitness, stamina and endurance
Faster recovery from physical activity
Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke
Lower risk of type 2 diabetes
Better overall health and longevity
In fact, research consistently shows that cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest predictors of long-term health and lifespan. *
VO₂ Max Across the Lifespan
VO₂ max naturally declines with age, primarily due to reductions in maximal heart rate, muscle mass and physical activity levels. However, regular exercise substantially reduces this decline. Older adults who remain physically active often maintain significantly higher cardiorespiratory fitness than sedentary individuals’ decades younger. This reinforces an important clinical message: although ageing is inevitable, declining fitness is not.
Can You Improve Your VO₂ Max?
The good news is yes. While genetics influence your starting point, regular exercise can significantly improve your VO₂ Max at almost any age.
Some of the most effective ways include:
Brisk walking or jogging
Cycling
Swimming
Rowing
High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
Consistency is far more important than perfection, but the recommendations are 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise spread over a week. Even small improvements in fitness can have meaningful health benefits.
If you already undertake cardiovascular exercise, then you can improve your VO₂ Max by varying the way you train. In my cardiovascular sessions I vary between:
· 4 x 4min interval training session at zone 4 (85% of maximum heart rate)
· 30 min tempo training session at zone 3 (70-80% maximum heart rate)
· 40 min lower intensity session at zone 2 (60-70% maximum heart rate)
Of course, that’s in addition to walking the dogs twice a day!
What are You currently doing to improve yours?
This is a question I believe you need to ask. If you aren’t doing enough, it will most definitely decline faster than it should. I know there are many factors to consider when looking to improve your health and longevity (strength training, mobilty training, functional breathing, diet, sleep) but I would encourage you not to forget this one.
* Research
Blair et al. (1989) first demonstrated that individuals with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness experienced significantly lower mortality rates regardless of other cardiovascular risk factors.
Mandsager et al. (2018) involved 120000 patients and concluded that low cardiorespiratory fitness carried a mortality risk comparable to, or exceeding, traditional risk factors such as smoking, diabetes and coronary artery disease. Importantly, there appeared to be no upper limit beyond which increasing fitness became harmful.
These findings have led many exercise physiologists to describe cardiorespiratory fitness as a "clinical vital sign."
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