How VO2 Max Impacts Health and Longevity
What Is It? Why Is It Important? How Can You Maintain and Improve It?
VO2 max is a fitness measurement, and it is one of the leading indicators of health and longevity. Your chances of making it as a fit, healthy, strong, and independent person into your 80s and 90s is higher if your VO2 max is above average. Longevity and health advisors like Peter Attia advocate being in the top 2-3%, or elite level, for the decade below your age range if you want to have the energy and stamina that will enable you to live longer and avoid the higher risk of all-cause mortality that comes with a lower VO2 max score. Sounds important, right? So, here’s what I know and how I work to maintain my VO2 max level.
Simply put, VO2 max is the maximum volume (V) of oxygen (O2) your body can process. This fitness measurement quantifies your maximum aerobic capacity. Although I’m not always partial to car analogies, the horsepower in a car is a good metaphor here. If you have a high VO2 max, you have a bigger engine (so to speak), you can go faster, and you can accelerate faster. This aerobic capacity is made up of 3 factors:
1. Heart and lung capacity: the amount of blood and oxygen your heart and lungs can deliver
2. Capillary function: your body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the cells
3. Muscle efficiency: how well your muscles use the oxygen they get
The gold standard for measuring your VO2 max is a stress test supervised by a doctor. The ones I’ve had involve a treadmill, a full EKG kit, and sometimes a mask to measure respiration and CO2. The treadmill is slowly cranked up in speed and incline over 10-15 minutes to get you to or near your maximum heart rate (MHR), all while being observed by the doctor and monitored by her or his instruments.
Your METs (metabolic equivalent) score and VO2 max is the level you can sustain near the top of your heart rate range. It’s helpful to know that 1 MET is the energy you expend at rest, and your VO2 max is 3.5 times your highest METs score.
Fitness trackers and online calculators are stopgaps, useful for measuring the in-between periods, but I would advocate having a stress test first and getting this annually or semi-annually, particularly if you are planning to do any High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) workouts.
How to Improve Your VO2 Max Score
Once you know your VO2 level, you can improve it by participating in highly exertive training routines, such as HIIT workouts. These can be short duration (10-30 second) “all out” sprints (experts recommend exercising at 95-100% of your maximum heart rate or MHR), followed by short recoveries (15-45 seconds) and then repeating those sprints as many times as you can. Once you’ve had a stress test, an exam, and a “good to go” from a cardiologist, don’t be afraid to go “all-out” on these (think running from a hungry lion, like our ancestors did, with all your adrenaline and energy at the highest levels.)
These “sprints” are not necessarily running. I do them walking as fast as I can uphill, biking, rowing, or on a Rogue bike at the gym. Other variations are a few 1-4 minute intervals at 85-90% of your MHR. And you don’t have to do them in as controlled an environment as I do. Climbing up hills and mountains (or stairs), bicycle wind sprints, or Crossfit workouts, accomplish the same results. So it’s your choice. After one or more of either of these intervals I will be huffing and puffing, not exactly gasping for breath but close, which steadies during the rest phase. There are lots of variations online, and I’ve written about the HIIT workouts I do as well.
How often you do these workouts depends on how long it takes to recover from them and your other training practices. I find the effects of a HIIT workout deceiving! At first, I feel hugely energetic given the amount of adrenaline and other hormonal stimulants my body has just produced. But by the next day there is usually a noticeable dip, and I feel the need for a longer recovery. (I may do a short Zone 2 session or attend a restorative yoga class or take a walk in the woods.) Given my other days of training, and especially the amount of Zone 2 training I do, I find that one 30 minute or so HIIT session, once a week, gives me what I need.
My own rhythm of training has kept my VO2 max fairly high for my age: I received a score of 47 on the last stress test, which is the same as 2 years before. At almost 75 years old, that puts me above the 95th percentile for 60-69 year olds, right where Peter Attia wants me to be.
The Big Picture on VO2 Max
According to several studies I have read, the minimum VO2 max for unassisted independent living is around 18 for men and 16 for women. Below that, our bodies are simply keeping us alive at a basic level and don’t provide enough energy to do even simple daily tasks like getting dressed and moving around. Unfortunately, the average VO2 max for an 80-year-old is in the low 20s. So, that average 80-year-old is already on the edge of not being able to fully function. You can see why it is good to keep your VO2 max as high as possible if you want to stay functional longer. My goal is to still be well above 30, or even higher, by the time I reach my 80s or early 90s.
There are lots of VO2 max charts by age online, as well as scientific articles about VO2 max, so you can do your own research. VO2 max is not just about aerobic energy. It is also linked with a much lower risk of All Cause Mortality (ACM) including cancer and dementia.Hopefully, you will see just how important it is to monitor, improve, and maintain your VO2 max score on your health and longevity journey. All that plus it feels great to be in top aerobic condition!
