Setting a new personal maximum is a great way to track your progress towards your fitness goals, so what’s the easiest way to do it? A useful step is to improve VO2max, which is a measure of how much oxygen your body can absorb and use during exercise. The more oxygen your body can use while you exercise, the better your performance, whether you’re running a long-distance race or playing a sport like tennis or soccer.
How to measure your VO2 max.
Their VO2 max is usually measured in a laboratory or medical setting, where they make you wear a mask that measures the amount of air you inhale and exhale, as well as a heart rate monitor, while you exercise, progressively increasing the intensity of the exercise. At some point, depending on your fitness levels, the amount of oxygen you are using will plateau, at which point your body will switch from aerobic to anaerobic respiration. This is your VO2 max. Generally speaking, the higher the plateau, the better your fitness level.
Properly measuring your VO2 max requires a lot of specialized equipment, which means it’s usually only done for specific purposes. There are other ways to estimate VO2 max that require less equipment, but are not as accurate, called submaximal exercise tests. These tests typically involve doing a structured exercise, such as running on a treadmill, and the results are used to calculate an estimated VO2 max. For example, him copper test makes you run or walk as far as you can in 12 minutes, and then uses that distance to estimate your VO2 max. If your performance on the test improves, that’s a sign that your VO2 max. has also improved.
the VO2 estimates provided by your activity tracker They are calculated in different ways depending on the make and model, but usually involve comparing your running or walking speed to changes in your heart rate, but these measurements are only rough estimates.
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How to improve your VO2 max.
There are two general strategies that are useful for improving your VO2 Max. The first is for build your aerobic base, which is achieved by doing a lot of low-intensity aerobic work. When running, that would mean a lot of long, slow miles, with the goal of building up your mileage over time. Doing this increases your overall aerobic capacity, which in turn will help your body become more efficient at absorbing and using oxygen.
As an exercise physiologist and Ironman coach Alan Couzens noted in a blog post For SimpliFaster, in their experience working with athletes, the greatest gains in VO2 max tend to occur when their training plan includes a lot of low-intensity aerobic work.
In addition to these long, slow miles, you’ll want to add in some more traditional “VO2 max” workouts, including short bursts of high-intensity work at 90-95% of your maximum heart rate. These short, intense bursts will help push your body’s capabilities even further.
However, while it may be tempting (and feel good) to push yourself every time you exercise, high-intensity intervals should only make up a small percentage of your overall exercise routine; for example, if you are preparing for a race, you want to avoid overdoing it too early. What Jason Fitzgerald wrote for outside magazineshould avoid prolonged work at a maximum level of VO2, since it is hard on the body. On the other hand the advise“Save most of these intense, specific workouts for the final phase of training when you’re preparing for a race.”
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