VO2 Max might be an unfamiliar term in the world of bodybuilding, weight training and such, but what if I told you it was one of the most important indicators of longevity and health? I bet that's piqued your interest. Well, in today's blog, I'm here to explain what VO2 Max is, why it's important, how you can improve it, and better yet how to implement it into your exercise routine.
What is VO2 Max?
VO2 max, or maximal oxygen uptake, measures the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilise during intense exercise. It is expressed in millilitres of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min). Essentially, VO2 max quantifies your aerobic capacity and endurance.
In other words, it's how fast your muscles can extract the oxygen from your blood and use it to generate energy to exert force.
As you can see, in scientific terms, it's one of the critical indicators of your cardiovascular fitness and so, as someone who plays a team-based sport such as football, for me, it's very important to improve but not just for that reason.
One of my long-term goals that I put down in my journal is to get into the best shape of my life and maintain that.
Up until writing this blog, I have neglected my aerobic fitness for around 5 years, which has made football very hard and my day-to-day output and energy have slumbered significantly too (sitting at a desk all day and living that sedentary lifestyle will ruin you!)
But there was a time when doing training similar to VO2 max training made me go from a chubby 14-year-old midfield football player to a 15-16-year-old box-to-box midfielder and winger, all the while being one of the fittest people in my school year with the highest scores on the cooper run and bleep test(British PE GCSE's). These effects of high-intensity training and training in Zone 5 allowed me to transform my fitness quickly. Not only that, it had long-lasting effects for quite a few years until COVID, when I became extremely sedentary and all my previous years of aerobic fitness gains had diminished.
This got me to this point here, learning VO2 max and committing to making sure that I get into the best shape of my life for the following reasons:
- Be the best footballer in my team
- Living as long as possible (I want to make it until 100)
- Being able to do anything and everything with ease without getting out of breath
- Have a strong heart and decrease my chances of heart disease.
- Avoid having old man moments where I feel old and out of breath.
- Increase my aerobic capacity for lifting weights and being fit enough to compete with my future children.
You see I'm a lover of science, its a passion of mine, but I came to the realisation that even though I have great genetics for long distance, I always have, I can't rely on that alone as your fitness abilities diminish as you get older, lazier and do no training, thus I came to the obvious conclusion to write this blog not just to help myself but everyone else that also wants to enhance their overall health and fitness and utilise the science of VO2 max to be their best selves.
It's funny because I actually started this quest with an Instagram reel that explained the benefits of VO2 max training, and also stumbled upon one of Huberman's podcasts that explained some protocols about V02 max with Peter Attia. Following this, I did more research into Vo2 max.
By the end, I learned a couple of things:
- Vo2 max was something powerful that I needed to implement into my life.
- It's not the same as doing a measly run.
- It's not HIIT training.
- It is probably something I'd want to do if I want to live for a very long time.
Why VO2 Max is Important
Indicator of Cardiovascular Health
VO2 max is one of the most reliable indicators of cardiovascular fitness. A higher VO2 max reflects a well-functioning heart, lungs, and circulatory system.
- Scientific Evidence: A study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology demonstrated that higher VO2 max levels are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.
Longevity and Quality of Life
A higher VO2 max is linked to a longer lifespan and better quality of life. It allows you to perform daily activities with greater ease and reduces the risk of chronic diseases.
- Scientific Evidence: Research in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that individuals with higher VO2 max levels had a significantly lower risk of mortality, independent of other risk factors.
Elite VO2 Max is the best but it's not necessary. However, anything is better than low VO2 Max.
This graph below indicates some interesting stats with survival probability being on the vertical axis and time (measured over a decade) on the horizontal axis.
Graph indicating survival from patient group from (Mandsager et al., 2018)
Data Break Down
A group of 122,000 patients, with an average age of 53 years old, were run through a VO2 Max test and ranked into performance groups:
- Low — people who scored in the bottom 25th percentile
- Below average — people in the 25 to 50th percentile
- Above average — people in the 50 to 75th percentile
- High — people in the 75 to ~95th percentile
- Elite — the top 5%
Around 30,000 participants in the categories, below average, above average, and high groups, but just 3,500 or so scored in the elite group.
This study shows that increasing your VO2 max from low to below average leads to a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality over a 10-year span. If you think about it, it’s crazy to think that's from low to below average, now imagine if you were above average or in the top 25% for your age range the reduction would be insane.
In fact, going from low to above average correlates to a 60-70% reduction in all-cause mortality. However, higher and elite show diminishing returns compared to the above average, but the difference from high to elite is still significant but not necessarily essential for you to chase unless you see that aspect of your life being a part of becoming your best self. The data clearly shows that going from low to above average is where you want to be to see great results and isn’t as hard as you'd imagine, just make sure you shoot for the highest you can attain and avoid being in the low.
So what's the verdict from this?
Train your damn aerobic fitness so you can live longer! No but seriously, increasing your VO2 max drastically reduces your chances of death and so increases your life and quality of your health, which sounds like a no-brainer to me.
Enhanced Athletic Performance
For athletes and fitness enthusiasts, VO2 max is crucial for peak performance. It determines how well your body can transport and use oxygen during sustained physical activity.
- Scientific Evidence: A study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine highlighted that elite endurance athletes typically have higher VO2 max levels, enabling them to perform at higher intensities for longer periods.
This chart shows what metrics, elite performances are at and something for you to aim for.
Source: https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/toc/2018/03000
How VO2 Max Enhances Everyday Life
Increased Stamina and Energy
A higher VO2 max improves your endurance and energy levels, making daily tasks easier and less tiring. Activities like climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and playing with children become more manageable. So with all these adaptations you can see how exciting it can be to do VO2 max training as your body is changing on the inside resulting in your body becoming an aerobic powerhouse, no more getting out of breath walking up the stairs, no more feeling out of shape when you're running around doing your sport or chasing your naughty child. Instead, you’ll end up being the fittest person on the pitch. Something that many people don't think about but is underrated is that your increase in v02 max means better performance in the gym as your muscles are more efficient in recovery, allowing you to lift with more intensity and for longer.
Improved Mental Health
Regular exercise that boosts VO2 max has been shown to enhance mood, reduce stress, and improve cognitive function. Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, promoting mental clarity and reducing the risk of depression and anxiety.A normal functioning person who doesnt train much will pump around 13-15 L/min of blod but with consistent training that person can then pump around 30 L/min of blood. Think about how much less your body has to use it’s heart and less strain it has on the heart because it is stronger, that is why its a huge indicator of longevity not just for fitness but for your overall wellbeing as every part of your body gets more oxygen and your brain being the powerhouse it is needs all the oxygen it can get to perform at its best.
The feeling of being awesome all around is a game changer and is a feeling worth grinding for its tough and arduous, nothing to take lightly but the health implications and benefits just compound over and over ! Imagibne being that guy , that guy who looks great feels great and someone who commands respect when they do sport or enter the room or are that dad that can do anything , the hero to their children , i dont know about you but thats something worth achieving as the goal isnt to just live longer but its to live longer whilst pushing to attain a good quality of life right into your older years.
How to Increase Your VO2 Max
Increasing your VO2 max requires a combination of aerobic exercise, interval training, and lifestyle modifications.
Aerobic Exercise
Engaging in regular aerobic activities such as running, cycling, swimming, or brisk incline walking can significantly improve your VO2 max.
But lets start at the beginning where we first build up the foundation of the period in order to increase your V02 max. Why?
Because just like Peter Attia suggests, if you want to build a high pyramid it has to have a wide base and this goes for achieving high V02 max aswell. As to achieve high VO2 Max you need to spend 80% of your time in zone 2 training and the other 20% well above this and into zone 5. Think about it like this Zone 2 cardio training is the foundation and high intensity training is how you add layers to make your pyramid taller and reach the peak.
Below is an image showing this
Source: Author via Excalidraw
Zone 2 training
Although this blog is about VO2 Max we will quickly touch on Zone 2 training as this is the base that you establish your VO2 Max on.
With a typical program, you want to do around 3 days a week on zone 2 cardio and 1 day a week with peak exertion level that you can barely get through 4 minutes but still have a tiny bit left in the tank. Zone 2 is typically long and slow so if you can't talk whilst let's say running for instance then you are going to fast.
Peter Attia suggested along the lines of 4 45 min sessions or 3, 60 min sessions but if you are pressed for time then doing a minimum of 2 sessions of 30 minutes a week will still allow you to see decent results, as long as you are in the zone of 60-70% of your maximum heart rate you are doing a good job. However, even though something like an Apple watch will measure your heart rate Peter stresses how with beginners you should rely on your intuition as your lactate tolerance is low and so the rate of perceived exertion should be the measurement you go off of then heart rate. Basically, use your gut feeling over science at the beginning of your training.
Everyone's schedule looks different and will be different. The suggested zone 2 cardio is 180-220 minutes per week however here is my breakdown of this
Sunday - 30 minute run
Monday - 10 minute run
Tuesday -10 minute run 60 min Football training
Wednesday - 10 minute run
Thursday 10-minute run 40 min 6 a side football
Friday 10-minute run
Saturday 90 min football match
As you can see i do alot of cardio these short 10 min runs are to and from the gym and the rest is football. My schedule includes a sport so it is harder to judge the cardio as it changes pace all the time however i know that im getting in around that threshold for minutes for cardio.
The thing is that youll find is that zone 2 training will often humble you if you are a runner as doing a 5k trying to hit a pr means youll be going 80-90 of your MHR however zone 2 requires you go to alot slower which means your times will increase however doing this for a few months youll find that on the contrary youll more than likely be able to smash your previous PR's when you aim to go for your best times as you would have built up your aerobic base.
High-intensity training for VO2 Max
if you are concerned about optimising your heart health you want to be incorporating this training into your program whether you're an athlete , play team sports, bodybuilding, strength training or running/ cycling.
The 20% of your overall volume training for the week should be high-intensity training here we are talking 3-8 minute interval training, so doing something so intense you can only do it for 3 minutes to 8 minutes but any more than 8 minutes and its no longer considered effective for VO2 max training.
The best formula for VO2 max training is 1:1 work-to-rest recovery. A good starting point would be 4 mins on and 4 mins off 4 times in a session once a week.
- 4mins of hard work
- 4 mins of rest
- Repeat 4 times
But before this make sure you do a warm-up to allow 10 mins of steady state work so your body is warmed up and prepped enough for good performance.
Modalities of VO2 max
Running
Treadmill
Bike/stationary bike
Running up a hill
Skipping
You can pick any of these or find other exercises, at the end of the day you need to make it fun which is the most important part of exercising but if you play a sport make sure that it is somewhat specific to that sport too.
For those who are a little more seasoned and have a good base and or do a bit of sport and high intensity work the Norwegian 4x4 is a great spot to test your abilities and opus them further.
This entails 4 mins 85-95% max hr, rest for 3 mins 60-70% max hr so a slow jog and repeat for a total of 4 rounds.
This will take around 20 minutes and if you do it correctly it should absolutely destroy you and make you feel awful for around 30 seconds to a minute, but after that, you should feel pretty good when the endorphins release throughout the body.
The science behind V02 Max training and the adaptations.
As Peter Attia Says “VO2 max is a remarkable integrator of the work you have done to get fit” following along with strength being a close second. So what does this mean? in a list of all the biomarkers that show longevity of health VO2 max is at the top thus is something we should all be aware of and incorporate. Of course genes play a role in how elite you will be and also play a role in your longevity however anyone can get into the top 25% of their gender and age for their VO2 Max with a long enough training history.
But for those that still don't understand fundamentally how VO2 max training helps your heart, muscles and body let me get a little scientific whilst still giving you an example to grasp at.
When the heart grows and the myocardium, the heart muscle becomes strong, and so every single beat becomes more efficient.
VO2 max is like hypertrophy training for your heart, but let's take an easier example for you to depict, take your quads you wouldn’t take a lightweight and use that to grow your quads as it does not have enough stimulus for your quads to grow, get bigger and stronger, as with lighter weights you might increase endurance but not the strength to lift heavier. Instead, you would pick a harder weight or more intense exercise so that your muscle is under enough stress to induce hypertrophy.
You need to make sure that when training for VO2 max it's not just about getting to your maximum heart rate but also maximising your oxygen consumption.
We need to make sure that when training VO2 max its not super short interval training of 20-30 seconds as this may hit your max hr but not VO2 as this hits your anaerobic systems and not your aerobic systems which is what we want to be training.
Stimulating your body to adapt to this level of training will enable you to consume even more oxygen, which is vital as the more oxygen you can breathe in and diffuse into the bloodstream and how much of that blood the heart can pump and deliver around the body to the working skeletal muscles and on top of that how much of that oxygen can be extracted by the muscles are great indicators of fitness, most crucially as a result the adaptations taking place means a more efficient heart and an increase in capillaries throughout your body which means a greater exchange of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.
Conclusion
VO2 max is a vital marker of cardiovascular health, longevity, and athletic performance. By understanding its importance and implementing strategies to boost it, you can enhance your overall health, increase your lifespan, and improve your daily quality of life. Incorporate regular aerobic exercise, HIIT, and strength training into your fitness regimen, and enjoy the myriad benefits of a higher VO2 max. Whether this is your first time hearing of VO2 max r it is somewhat a familiar concept, you now have the breakdown of the science and the knowledge to implement and take charge of your health. Although saying that your exercise regime places an emphasis on VO2 max might sound weird it is essentially just another way of saying your trying to get into the best shape of your life, and even better you can even tell people that you are reducing your all cause mortality over the next 10 years by a minimum of 50% going from low to below average. Now that's a cool flex and fact to be dishing out ayyy.
Anyway, I hope this has informed you about the power of VO2 max training and has allowed you to conceptualise why you now want to go out and go for a run or do some hardcore VO2 max interval training because I know after doing the research it definitely has made me want to do it.
Hope this has impacted you and made you think deeply into looking after your health.
As always see you in the next blog.
Thanks,
Bradley D.R
Co-director of KINGS PIECE
References
- Blair, S. N., Kohl, H. W., Paffenbarger, R. S., Clark, D. G., Cooper, K. H., & Gibbons, L. W. (1989). Physical fitness and all-cause mortality: A prospective study of healthy men and women. JAMA.
- Lee, D. C., Artero, E. G., Sui, X., & Blair, S. N. (2010). Mortality trends in the general population: The importance of cardiorespiratory fitness. Journal of Psychophysiology.
- Weston, K. S., Wisløff, U., & Coombes, J. S. (2014). High-intensity interval training in patients with lifestyle-induced cardiometabolic disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
- Jason Gutierrez
Videos used for this blog
Peter Attia - - How to train your cardio vascular fitness
