How to max your VO2 max
Runners have never had more fitness data at their fingertips. The affordability and accessibility of tech-packed running watches mean that even a Saturday morning plodder can drill down into their heart rate zones and vertical oscillation post-parkrun. But amongst the noise of advanced metrics like running power and lactate threshold fields, there’s one that’s most relevant to distance runners – VO2 max.
A measure of your aerobic capacity, it essentially shows the amount of oxygen your body can effectively use during exercise. This is important because oxygen is vital for energy production – the mitochondria in each cell use the oxygen transported via red blood cells to transform energy stores in muscles into the fuel required for movement. The more oxygen you can process, the greater your ability to produce energy aerobically – meaning you can go harder or for longer without tipping into the lactic acid-inducing anaerobic intensities.
VO2 max is presented as a number and represents the maximum amount of oxygen a runner can consume in millilitres per kilogram of body weight in one minute (mL/kg/min). Although that might sound confusing, all you have to focus on is the higher the number, the better your VO2 max.
For context, Eliud Kipchoge’s VO2 max is estimated to be near 90; sub-three-hour marathonersaverage 65.5; and three-plus-hour marathoners are around 58.7. For mere mortals, The Physical Fitness Specialist Certification Manual suggests a ‘good’ VO2 max is between 33-36.9 for females aged 20-29, and 42.5-46.4 for males aged 20-29.
How do you measure your VO2 max?
Finding out your VO2 max isn’t for the faint-hearted (and is generally the preserve of those with deep pockets), which is why many runners won’t know their exact score.
A VO2 max test takes place in lab-like settings and sees you perform an all-out effort on a treadmill or exercise bike. Things start off easy but the intensity is soon ramped up in set increments (either by increasing the speed, gradient or, on an exercise bike, resistance) until you can no longer physically continue.
If this 10-20 minute maximum effort wasn’t enough, you wear a claustrophobic mask throughout that’s hooked up to a machine that measures your oxygen consumption. Once you’ve reached your limit, it will measure your 60-second maximum oxygen intake, which is divided by your weight to leave you with your score.
You can have your maximum capacity tested at performance labs, specialist gyms and medical centres, but because it’s so demanding and costly (anything from £80 to £200), many opt for an alternative, like this 10-minute self-paced VO2 max test.
You can have your maximum capacity tested at performance labs, specialist gyms and medical centres, but because it’s so demanding and costly (anything from £80 to £200), many opt for an alternative, like this 10-minute 10-minute self-paced VO2 max test here instead.
Note: This is a very high intensity test. Only undertake it if you are in good health and already exercise regularly. If in doubt, seek advice first.
Why is VO2 max important?
Although finding out your VO2 max is arduous, it’s a key indicator of your overall physical fitness so could be worthwhile. After all, once you know your score, you can use it to improve it – unlocking the ability to run further, faster and longer for less effort.
‘A high VO2 max is like a car with a bigger engine. A car with a smaller engine has to work harder to go as fast as the big engine,’ says Matthew Meyer, a coach for Mile High Run Club in New York City.
While VO2 max is a great marker to know – understanding and tracking your cardio fitness can help you set appropriate goals and evaluate your training – no plan or coach would ever suggest heading out on a run at, say, 80%t of your VO2 max. Instead, your VO2 max is used to identify more useful parameters: your heart rate zones and anaerobic threshold, says Silvano Zanuso, director of the medical and scientific department at Technogym. These zones and thresholds can then be used to plan your training around, he says.
Other benefits of VO2 max
A high VO2 max score’s benefits extend beyond your running sessions, and could even help you live longer – a 2022 meta-analysis finding a strong association between cardiovascular fitness and all-cause mortality risk, where the better your VO2 max, the lower your risk of death.
An article published by Harvard Medical School backs this up, adding that ‘increasing your VO2 max is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and stroke’.
It might just be the biggest long-term health intervention you can make – a study from 2018 suggests that increasing your VO2 max will derive more benefits than improving other factors such as your smoking status, your diabetes, and your blood pressure.
How to improve VO2 max
While any aerobic exercise will help to maintain your VO2 max score, improving it requires putting in the hard yards – namely high-intensity interval training or HIIT. The reason is that HIIT forces you to reach or temporarily surpass your anaerobic threshold – where your body generates energy without oxygen – before returning to a lower, aerobic, intensity. This type of overload causes your heart and lungs to adapt to the demands you’re imposing on them, and over time improves your VO2 max by increasing capacity and efficiency.
Try this cardio-boosting HIIT circuit
Perform as many reps as possible of the moves below in 30 seconds, resting for 10 seconds between each one. After you’ve completed all 5 exercises, rest for 1 minute before repeating the entire circuit again. Complete 4 rounds total. Once you master this, add 10 seconds of work until you reach 60 seconds total to improve your VO2 max.
• Burpee
How to improve VO2 max through running sessions
On the road or track, you’ll have to push your limits with tempo runs and interval sessions at threshold to boost your VO2 max. ‘The one thing it teaches you is how to become a better athlete,’ says running coach Greg Laraia. ‘If you want to take your performance to the next level, or if you’re stuck in a rut and trying to figure out what’s wrong, a VO2 max test will teach you how to customise your training to break out of that rut area.’
How much of your VO2 max is down to genetics?
Ultimately, your VO2 max has a ceiling, and there are only so many mountain climbers or interval sessions you can do before you eventually plateau. That’s because genetics plays a big role in our aerobic potential – hence why not everyone can run a sub-2:00:00 marathon like Kipchoge. But that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel before you’ve even started – very few people will ever hit their limits, meaning there’s plenty of scope for improvement regardless of your starting point.
VO2 max watches
Some running watches include a VO2 max estimation feature that will use your training data such as heart rate, distance and altitude, and other inputs like age and weight to calculate your score. Although a free way to find out your VO2 max if you already own the watch, it’s worth noting that the figure is likely to be an underestimation of your true VO2 max because a watch will have a lower accuracy compared to lab conditions and the fact that we very rarely hit the top end of our capacity while working out.
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