Wait, My VO2 Max Did WHAT at Age 75?
Over the past few weeks, I had my usual medical reviews and testing, an annual snapshot consisting of bloodwork and other tests to check in with the modern medicine establishment and see how I’m doing from that perspective. This is not the only “how’s my health?” tool I use, but it is a pretty important one. Other than one small issue that I am sorting through—and will discuss in another post—all the results came back in the healthy or better-than-average range. This is always a relief no matter how healthy I feel! At my age, 75, no matter how proactive I am, the risk factors for diseases and complications start ratcheting up, year after year.
So, it was with great pleasure that I learned my VO2 max score had increased by over 10% since my last test 2½ years ago. My current VO2 max score is 53, and my last one was 47. These scores are both extraordinarily high for my age, putting my results in the top few percent of people 1 or 2 decades younger than me. And this is an age when VO2 max scores are supposed to be going down, yet mine increased.
Exactly what is VO2 max and why is it important? As I explained in a previous post VO2 max is short for maximal oxygen uptake. It is a measure of your body's ability to use oxygen during exercise, with higher scores indicating better aerobic fitness. The VO2 max score can be calculated on many fitness trackers and online tests, but the gold standard of accuracy is from a cardiologist-administered stress test. An article on the Harvard Medical School’s website explains that “VO2 max is an objective way to tell how fit you are. A high VO2 max correlates to better physical fitness and is associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular disease and increased longevity.”
Given that VO2 max is now deemed one of the best indicators of later-life health and longevity, it is a great confirmation that my exercise regimen is working. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. The results confirm why my energy levels and respiratory fitness remain extremely high for my age and that my health practices are working well to promote my goals of increased healthspan and lifespan.
The Wonder of What’s Possible
I’m sharing this news not to brag or show off but to report, just as I wrote a few weeks ago in my “How Much and When to Start” article, that our bodies remain capable of improving at any age. As I wrote, it’s never too late or too early to take action to improve your health. (And please don’t use my story to put it off until you’re older. Had I not been doing this work for many years I doubt if my VO2 max improvement would have happened.) If you want your later years to be energetic and vital, if you want the energy to remain independent and stay as far away from hospitals and medical offices as possible, then you need to take steps, now and literally, to keep your respiratory and cardiovascular capacity high.
My approach is a combination of mostly Zone 2 exercise: walking, biking, and rowing (in the gym or outside), as well as a weekly HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) session, along with the other health practices I’ve written about. And the benefits don’t stop with increased respiratory capacity. They extend to all the organs and muscles in your body that benefit from increased blood flow.
Our Bodies, the Real Miracles of the Universe
The older I get and the more I practice my approach to health and life, the more humbled I am by the extraordinary gift I’ve been given—to be alive as the whole person I am and to enjoy the health I do every day. My body’s ability to heal, to grow, and to get stronger is a constant source of wonder to me. There are obviously limits to all this as I get older, and I am starting to feel them. But the daily hormetic activities I do, my own medley of exercise, diet, meditation and emotional work, are the ways I have found to live in harmony with, and to support, my health. This unique combination that I have developed over many years (and continually adjust) is my way of enjoying, appreciating, and being with the great universal life force that resides inside me and in every other living thing on our planet.
