Why Is VO2Max So Important?

Do you know what VO2 Max is? VO2 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. It is important to have a high VO2 Max because it will improve your fitness levels and your overall health. Starting as early as the age of 30, your cardiac output, muscle mass, and lung capacity all decline. Making sure you continue to improve your cardiovascular health is critical in maintaining your overall health. It is NEVER too late to get started.

You can increase your VO2 Max by doing a combination of aerobic training along with high-intensity interval training (HIIT).

Some examples of aerobic training that will help you increase your VO2 Max are walking, jogging, biking, and swimming. They all get your heart rate up, increase your stamina, and give you a stronger cardiovascular system.

When initially starting out, you should be doing aerobic exercise for 30 minutes 2–3 times per week at 60-70% of your heart rate maximum (HRM). To determine your heart rate maximum, subtract your age from 220. Then you will calculate what zone your heart rate should be in for a 60-70% workload. In this workload, you should still be able to maintain a conversation with someone while exercising. Try using a smartwatch to help you track your heart rate zones.

Example: For a person who is 65 years old

220-65= 155 (HRM)

60% of 155 = 93 HR

70% of 155 = 108.5 HR

Once you have developed your cardiovascular system, you can slowly increase the duration and intensity of your workouts. Just increasing the duration by an extra 5–10 minutes can have a huge impact on your cardiovascular health.

Making sure you are staying on a consistent routine is crucial for setting yourself up for success. Utilize a schedule and try to do your exercise at the same time each day. You can even incorporate different variations of your exercise to keep things fun and interesting!

Now, let's talk about incorporating HIIT workouts in with your aerobic training. HIIT workouts are when you do a mixture of short, very high intensity exercises, then an immediate rest or low intensity movement period. For example, you can do 60 seconds of sprinting then immediately go into a 60-second jog, repeating that pattern 20 times. As well as aerobic exercises, you can always mix up your HIIT exercises to make it more interesting. While you are training in a HR zone of 60-70% of your HRM for aerobic exercises, you should be training in a HR zone of 85-90% of your HRM when doing HIIT exercises.

Don’t have a smartwatch? That is okay! You can also use what we call a RPE scale (rate of perceived exertion). On a 1-10 scale, 10 is you can absolutely do no more, and 1 is the easiest thing you have ever done. Aerobic training should be in the 6-7 range while HIIT should be in the 8-9 range. You also need to remember that you MUST listen to your body. You know your body best, and it is important that you give it time to rest by having rest days and doing active recovery.