I’ve always thought that testing your VO2 Max was only for high level athletes who need lots of different data points to direct their training program for their sport. Recently, my view has changed and YOU need to know your VO2 max.
VO2 max refers the maximum rate at which your muscles can extract oxygen from your blood and use it to generate energy. This maximum is attained when we are at our peak exertion and can be used to indicate our fitness levels and used as a metric to track progress.
I recently tested my own VO2 max. I had been curious for years. I have always worn a Garmin watch and based on HR data from recent workouts, it predicts what your VO2 max is. I knew this was inaccurate as the true measurement needs to be calculated based on the oxygen you’re breathing in.
You need to know your VO2 max because it is one of the best measurements that you can use to predict your health span. Dr. Peter Attia claims – “when looking at VO2 max in relation to all-cause mortality, we see a very clear trend. Simply bringing your VO2 max from ‘low’ (bottom 25th percentile) to ‘below average’ (25th to 50th percentile) is associated with a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality. When you go from ‘low’ to ‘above average’ (50th to 75th percentile) the risk reduction is closer to 70%!”
I like to look at three different areas that we can measure to ensure we are living a healthy life and ultimately Getting Better At Life:
- Heath Metrics – here I’m talking about blood pressure, Resting Hear Rate, blood markers etc. Most of the these you’ll get from your Doctor
- Body Composition – how much fat and muscle are we made up of
- Performance Metrics – how much can we lift, how high can we jump, how fast can we run etc
All of these data points can be tracked and measured. If you’re nourishing your body well, training regularly and getting good sleep then there is a high chance these metrics will get better and you’ll be fitter and healthier. VO2 max is a mixture of a Health Metric and a Performance Metric but the reason I think that you need to know your VO2 max is because it’s a very good Health Metric. As the quote above suggests, if you improve your VO2 max then you are likely to live longer and I would say better!
To test your VO2 max, you’ll need to go to a specialized facility. I went to a local business in Leaside called Body Insight. Martin is a friend of mine and he hooked me up to a machine via a face mask which measured my breath, connected me to a heart rate monitor and started me walking on a treadmill. The protocol is to keep increasing the speed and incline on the treadmill until you cannot go any longer. The test is structured and the computer will give you your score at the end.
Low VO2 Max indicates poor cardio fitness, and this means the body can’t take in and use oxygen very efficiently, so physical exercise is a struggle. Heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and early mortality are linked to low VO2 max.
You will be able to compare your results to the averages of the population and see what percentiles you fall in. If you’re over 40 years old and want to be in the 75th percentile, you need a VO2 max score over 45.
As I’ve said, VO2 max score is a great health metric and has some benefits as a performance metric. There are better performance metrics that should be tracked along side VO2 max. It’s possible to get a high VO2 max score but not be very strong, so testing maximum lifts is also beneficial.
We live at a time where we can access lots of data. When it comes to health I think getting as much data as we can, can help us. For some people, it can be confirmation that what they are currently doing is working and they should proceed as they are. For others, it can be a realization that things need to change and the test re-test process can confirm that change has had a positive impact.
Either way, I believe you need to know your VO2 max!