Performance Specialist Steve Kerfoot takes a look at VO2max, what it is, and what it means for your training and performance.
As running becomes more popular and with the modern world having so much social media video content, it can be hard to learn about the science behind sport, and easy to think of it as ‘too complicated’ for your everyday runner. The terms ‘VO2max’ and ‘lactate threshold’ are often floated around or used to describe the intensity of running sessions that are everything from zone 2 to zone 5. These claims are accurate, but they are very confusing on the surface, so what does it actually mean? In this short blog post, we will outline what VO2max refers to, how we measure it and, most importantly, how we can use it to maximise our training across all distances, from the 5k to the 5-day races!
What is ‘Vo2max’?
VO2max was first defined in 1923, as the maximum oxygen uptake obtained during exercise at a maximum intensity, and it is measured in litres of oxygen per minute. It is the absolute maximum volume of oxygen your body can use in the muscles, per minute. Since we get oxygen from the air we breathe, and we transport this oxygen in the blood pumped by our hearts, our VO2max resembles the greatest effort of our cardiorespiratory system (our heart and lungs at their best).
How do we measure VO2max?
To find the maximum limit your oxygen intake can reach when exercising as hard as you can, you unfortunately need to push as hard as you can go! VO2max testing follows an ‘incremental exercise’ protocol in which the intensity of exercise ramps up steadily, until you are no longer able to keep running/cycling. In a typical treadmill test, you will either run faster and faster every minute, or run at a fixed speed but at a steeper angle, again every minute.
Whilst running, the air you breathe in and out is recorded by a device such as the VO2 master (see below) which can measure how much oxygen you breathe in, and how much you breathe out (as well as some other useful data like total air traffic). Knowing this, we can measure exactly how much oxygen your body is using every second, by seeing how much less oxygen comes out of your body vs. what goes in!
What’s it to me?
If two people are identical in the efficiency of their running technique, but one has a higher VO2max than the other, the person with the higher VO2max will win in a race – this is because they are able to produce more energy (by getting in and using more oxygen) than their counterpart. This is the same across all distances and disciplines, aside from very short sprints – as your cardiorespiratory system develops and becomes stronger, your performance will be to a higher standard! In the longer races, the greater your Vo2max (the higher your maximum energy production is) the more comfortable you will be at the slower paces. In the shorter races, the greater your Vo2max the faster you can go!
Training one’s VO2max involves working hard, to put it simply. You don’t need to be sprinting at your absolute max, however the efforts in your sessions should be hard enough to feel fast, and long enough to have you breathing very hard at the end. A great way to ensure you have gone hard enough within a rep is to be at above 90% of your maximum heart rate (if you have done Vo2max testing, you will know what your maximum heart rate is).
Testing and Training at The Altitude Centre!
Vo2max testing at the Altitude Centre starts from £159, providing a complete viewpoint into how you breathe and how much oxygen you consume when stressed to the limit! If interested in coming into the performance lab, have a look at our website here.
Our coaching team prides themselves in helping people across a wide range of distances and events, from the Ultra Trail du Mt Blanc (hopefuls and competitors) to the hot and sweaty IronMan World Championship race in Kona this year alone!
Running or cycling in our altitude chamber has been shown to increase Vo2max by as much as 15% in as little as 6 weeks of training! Incorporating the low-oxygen environment with our Hypoxic HIIT classes is a proven way to gain an edge over any sea-level trained competitors!