Discussions among endurance athletes often involve certain metrics, and VO₂ max tops the list. Simply put, VO₂ max measures the amount of oxygen that the muscles in your body have available to them when you’re really exerting yourself. And the more the better.
And before you think that learning more about this important number is only for extreme athletes, think again. Optimizing VO₂ max is a great health and wellness step for anyone; studies show that it can even improve life expectancy in men.
As sports medicine specialists, Dr. Moisés Irizarry-Román and the team at No Mercy Sports Medicine understand better than most why tracking VO₂ max is so important. We also know that many people are working with the wrong numbers, which is why we promote proper VO₂ max testing.
When you exert yourself, your body prioritizes sending oxygen to your muscles, which need that resource to function.
As you inhale oxygen into your lungs, your body passes it on to your red cells. From there, these cells deliver the oxygen to your muscles, where it turns into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the main energy source for these tissues.
If you want your muscles to keep up, you need to make sure that you’re taking in enough oxygen to create enough energy for them.
The way we measure VO₂ max is complex because the final number represents the milliliters of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute of exercise (ml/kg/minute).
By the numbers, these can range from below 30 to higher than 55, and the higher the better in terms of physical and aerobic fitness.
Having a good handle on your VO₂ max numbers is important for athletes who want to operate at an optimal fitness and endurance level. That doesn’t necessarily describe most people, yet anyone can benefit from testing.
The reality is that as great as VO₂ max is for improving performance, it’s a strong predictor of your cardiovascular and metabolic health, which are arguably the most important areas of your health. This is because poor health in these areas can affect your VO₂ max, making it an early diagnostic tool for certain cardiometabolic issues.
As a marker of your overall health, VO₂ max can shed some important light. It lets Dr. Irizarry-Román know about what resources your body is working with and how to improve this.
When it comes to measuring your VO₂ max, we can’t say enough about getting it done correctly. For example, many people rely on wearable fitness devices, which can be great for tracking their health and certain metrics, but VO₂ max isn’t one of them.
The reality is that wearable devices can be off the mark by 10% or more with VO₂ max. One study also found that different wearable devices had alarmingly different readings when it came to VO₂ max.
Instead of relying on faulty numbers, it’s important to get the right VO₂ max reading from the start, which is where we come in. At our practice, we have the right testing equipment to provide precise VO₂ max readings to ensure that we put patients on the right path moving forward.
Instead of spinning your wheels when it comes to your fitness and overall health, why not see what’s really going on in your body through professional VO₂ max testing? To get that set up, contact No Mercy Sports Medicine in Miami, Florida, today. Call 305-614-6757 or send us a message online.
