VO2 Max Unveiled

Training Status

Age

Genetics

VO2 max

Gender

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Altitude

Body Composition

Environmental Conditions

Exercise Type

Age

Body Composition

Gender

Altitude

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Enviromental Conditions

Genetics

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Exercise Type

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With all of this information about VO2 max, what should you do?

How does Exercise Type affect VO2 max?

Fact or Myth - higher fat burning is done at lower intensity vs. higher intensity

MYTH

• When respiratory exchange rate (RER) is mentioned, this is referring to the ration between the amount of CO2 being produced in the body vs. the amount of O2 being consummed.
• When you do exercises at higher intensity, you tend to start breathing heavier, meaning your body is needing more oxygen to keep up.
• When you're doing higher intensity exercises, this also will help raise your VO2 max because VO2 max itself is the max amount of oxygen someone utilizes during intense exercise.

How Body Composition Affects VO2 max

In regards to body composition/body mass, it is inversely proportional to VO2 max, meaning that when body mass increases, VO2 max decreases. That's why long distance runners are lanky, so they can have optimal speed.

The graph above shows the relation between BMI and VO2 max, from this you can see that the higher the VO2 max, the lower the BMI is.

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Depending on which factor(s) of VO2 max affect you, there are some options to explore on what you can do to improve your VO2 max.

• Besides age, gender, genetics and altitude, which are factors that you won't be able to change, you can still be aware as, say an older female that lives in a colder area, that your VO2 max will be lower.
• If you have a significantly higher/lower body composition, if you find the right exercises for your body, it will be more beneficial for you and your goals.
• Training status is also very important if you're looking to increase your VO2 max, weight training and any other high intensity exercises will gradually help.
• Even as someone older, you can gradually walk or any other exercise for small incriments at a time, like walking for 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 more later on. Even if it's not weight training, you can build stamina and building up your VO2 max at the same time.

How Gender Affects VO2 max

Below is a chart that takes the average VO2 maxes of ages 18-65 from both men and women. As you can see, men have higher VO2 max, but not by a lot. Males also have more skeletal muscle compared to women, which is a result of more oxygen being extrated from the blood, increasing VO2 max.

How Genetics Affect VO2 max

Genetics is one of the few factors that affects VO2 max, because of genetics you could have excellent VO2 max without ever trying to raise it. Another point is that your VO2 max level is in response to your training which is affected by genetics.

Environmental Conditions Affecting VO2 max

Depending where you live, you notice your breathing differs in certain types of weather. For example, you consume more O2 when the conditions are warming versus in the cold. If you visit the mountains when you live in the city, you also notice you breath heavier which hits on environmental conditions and altitude.

How does Training Status Affect VO2 max

When choosing exercises, higher intensity workouts are better for increasing VO2 max. If you are just beginning to wokrout, lower to moderate intensity will help with your VO2 max, just not as effectively. High intensity interval training, or HIIT workouts are a good example of a effective, workout to start with. With high intensity exercise, it requires a lot more oxygen and energy to sustain your body, and overtime, your body will adjust and have that excess oxygen and ATP ready so you don't fatigue.

How Age Affects VO2 max

As you get older, physical activity usually ddeceases, because it is much hader to run or do daily activities.

• When physical activity declines, max heart rate and VO2 max decreases as well.

How Altitude Affects VO2 max

When you travel higher in altitude, it is harder to breath because of the lower oxygen levels compared to sea level. Meaning, as you go higher in altitude, VO2 levels decrease. For example, if you run at sea level, your time will be a lot better than if you ran on top of a mountain. VO2 max is actually reduced by 1-2% for every 390 feet above 4900 feet in elevation

DID YOU KNOW?