VO₂ max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can absorb and use when you are exercising. It measures your aerobic fitness levels.
If you wish to enhance your aerobic fitness, you might want to optimize your VO₂ max (also known as your oxygen uptake).
Read on to learn more about what VO₂ max is, how it is measured, and how you can improve your VO₂ max.
VO₂ max is the highest (max) level (V) of oxygen (O₂) your body can use during exercise.
Oxygen is an important ingredient in the breathing process that plays a role in respiration. When you breathe in oxygen, your lungs absorb and break it down into energy known as adenosine triphosphate (ATP)Trusted Source.
ATP powers your cells and helps in releasing the carbon dioxide (CO₂) formed during your respiratory process when you breathe out.
The benefits are simple: The greater your VO₂ max, the more oxygen your body can consume, and the more efficiently your body can use that oxygen to create the maximum amount of ATP energy.
Practically speaking, your body will be better able to handle aerobic exercise activities with a high oxygen intake like running, swimming, and other types of cardio.
Who should raise their VO₂ max?
A high VO₂ max would be a fine measure of how good you are at sports, especially if you are a swimmer or runner. Your value of VO₂ max can serve as a basis to test for how you do better in respect to your athletic skill or should you desire your VO₂ max to be preserved at a particular value in that you are capable of maintaining the performance.
But while oxygen uptake is more typically used for athletes, is not reserved for athletes. It is a way of quantifying cardiorespiratory fitness in anyone. Medical physicians can use it to evaluate your heart and lung function.
Everyone — no matter what athletic ability — should try to enhance their cardiorespiratory endurance. A greater VO₂ max is associated with a lower risk of death, research has found.
How is VO₂ max measured?
VO₂ max tests are typically performed in a medical facility like a lab or hospital by a doctor, cardiologist, or fitness trainer.
Submaximal exercise tests
A few personal trainers and fitness instructors are also qualified to conduct VO₂ max tests. These tests are also called "submaximal trusted source" because they are performed below (sub) max heart rate and below max level of exhaustion, usually 75%-85% max heart rate.
Submaximal exercise tests are still a good way to measure your VO₂ max levels and your levels of heart and lung endurance during exercise.
The type of VO₂ max test that is best for you depends on how fit you are. Your teacher or physician may ask you to do one of the following tests if you exercise regularly or are a trained athlete:
Astrand treadmill testTrusted Source
2.4 km run test
multistage bleep test
You can do a walk/run test on a treadmill if you are newer to exercising or have not exercised in a while. Some other VO₂ max tests that can be done are:
Cooper 1.5-mile walk-run testTrusted Source
Rockport 1-mile walk test
treadmill testTrusted Source
compare your best time or speed to average times for others performing similar activities
How to calculate VO₂ max METS
In order to convert VO₂ max to METS you simply divide your VO₂ max by 3.5.
What’s considered a ‘good’ VO₂ max?
VO₂ max depends on a few key factors:
- age
- gender
- fitness level
- elevation, such as at sea level or in the mountains
Some of these factors, like age and sex, are uncontrollable. But the majority of your oxygen uptake depends on your fitness level, which can be managed.
There is no one "good" VO₂ max that all one single person is supposed to target, but each should be striving for a good or better fitness score (60 and above percentile).
Below are some averages by sex and age that you may refer to.
Average VO₂ max for individuals born male expressed in mL/kg/min:
| Age | 20–29 | 30–39 | 40–49 | 50–59 | 60–69 | 70–79 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superior | 55.4 | 54 | 52.5 | 48.9 | 45.7 | 42.1 |
| Excellent | 51.1 | 48.3 | 46.4 | 43.4 | 39.5 | 36.7 |
| Good | 45.4 | 44 | 42.4 | 39.2 | 35.5 | 32.3 |
| Fair | 41.7 | 40.5 | 38.5 | 35.6 | 32.3 | 29.4 |
| Poor | <41.7 | <40.5 | <38.5 | <35.6 | <32.3 | <29.4 |
Average VO₂ max for individuals born female expressed in mL/kg/min:
| Age | 20–29 | 30–39 | 40–49 | 50–59 | 60–69 | 70–79 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Superior | 49.6 | 47.4 | 45.3 | 41.1 | 37.8 | 36.7 |
| Excellent | 43.9 | 42.4 | 39.7 | 36.7 | 33 | 30.9 |
| Good | 39.5 | 37.8 | 36.3 | 33 | 30 | 28.1 |
| Fair | 36.1 | 34.4 | 33 | 30.1 | 27.5 | 25.9 |
| Poor | <36.1 | <34.4 | <33 | <30.1 | <27.5 | <25.9 |
How do you increase your VO₂ max?
As you get older, your VO₂ max typically drops.
There are many things you can do to keep your VO₂ max levels at their peak for your age and fitness objectives. A 2016 studyTrusted Source found that even occasional high-intensity exercise can increase VO₂ max levels.
Here are a few tips:
- Perform high intensity interval training (HIIT): This consists of doing several minutes of intense aerobic exercises, like cycling on a stationary bike, reducing the intensity for a few minutes, and increasing the intensity again.
- Switch up aerobic activities in a single workout: Start with cycling, then swimming, then running, and so on. Rest in between each activity.
- Perform any cardio activity: While intensity is what improves VO₂ max levels the most, any cardio exercise that is not a stroll should improve cardiorespitory fitness and VO₂ max in sedentary people.
Why increase your VO₂ max?
Based on research done about the benefits of VO₂ max, the answer to this question seems rather easy to understand: It'll make you live longer.
No joke: In a 2018 studyTrusted Source released in Frontiers in Bioscience, researchers found that increasing your VO₂ max can increase oxygen delivery and utilization in the body, staying healthy and fit far into advanced age.
Some advantages you will discover on a regular basis which you may feel days or weeks of starting to optimize your VO₂ max, are:
less tired or winded doing tasks such as walking upstairs
reducing your levels of stress
enhancing your immune system and falling ill less often
Takeaway
VO₂ max is a good indicator for measuring your levels of aerobic fitness because it literally tells you how well your body is utilizing oxygen.
If you're an athlete who loves cardio, then VO₂ max should be one of your calling cards for measuring your fitness and monitoring your progression over time if you want to improve your performance.
Even if you're not athletic, visit your doctor or the gym nearest to you and ask for a submaximal exercise test.
VO₂ max is an effective indicator of cardiovascular fitness as you age. It's well worth checking to find and maintain a good or better VO₂ max rating to maintain your health for a lifetime.
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