Everything You Need To Know About VO2 Max

Good morning awesome runner — smile, it’s Monday and we have a new week ahead! 🙌

In today’s edition:

1. Everything You Need To Know About VO2 Max

2. Kenyan Post-Run Stretching Routine

3. The Incredible Derek Redmond’s Story

4. Sub 1h20 Update & SPOILER ALERT!

Let’s get to it!

Everything You Need To Know About VO₂ Max

Disclaimer: none of the information in this article should be used as medical advice or opinion. It is for general education.

The Significance of VO₂ in Exercise Science

If I were to ask you how strong you are, you might reply with the amount of weight you can bench press or the number of pushups you can do. But quantifying cardiorespiratory fitness is not as simple.

While some people may know their mile time, that measurement is more about speed than physiology.

Exercise scientists, however, have a powerful tool to gauge cardiorespiratory fitness: VO₂, which stands for the volume of oxygen consumed by the body per minute.

Not only does VO₂ allow us to assign a number to our cardiovascular fitness, but it also serves as one of the most reliable predictors of heart disease and mortality.

What is VO₂ and How is it Measured

VO₂ is measured in milliliters per kilogram per minute, representing the amount of oxygen consumed per minute per kilogram of body mass.

This relative VO₂ allows for comparisons across different body sizes.

Alternatively, we can calculate absolute VO₂ by omitting body weight. Some refer to this measurement as "oxygen consumption."

So, what actually consumes oxygen when we measure VO₂?

The primary culprit is the mitochondria in our body's tissues. Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell because they utilize oxygen to generate energy.

However, people can have varying degrees of mitochondrial efficiency, and mitochondria become less efficient as we age.

Additionally, different organs have different quantities of mitochondria and oxygen consumption rates.

For instance, our hearts consume 11% of the oxygen in our bodies, even though they only account for about six-tenths of a percent of our total mass.

Our brains, on the other hand, consume 20% of our oxygen while representing only 2% of our body weight.

Surprisingly, muscles, which constitute about half of our body weight, only consume 27% of our total VO₂ at rest.

However, during exercise, the muscles demand more oxygen, causing overall VO₂ to increase.

To calculate VO₂ during exercise and at rest, exercise scientists use the Fick Equation: VO₂ equals cardiac output times the arteriovenous oxygen difference.

Let's break this down.

Think of systemic circulation as an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant with a conveyor belt delivering sushi every minute.

The hungry patron represents the oxygen-hungry tissues in the body, and the plates are red blood cells carrying oxygen through the blood vessels (conveyor belt).

To measure the patron's consumption, we count the sushi on one side of the belt and then on the other side, subtracting the difference to determine the amount eaten!

Similarly, in the human body, we can compare the amount of oxygen in our arteries to that in our veins, and the difference is called the arteriovenous oxygen difference (a-VO₂ difference).

At rest, this difference is around 4mL of oxygen per 100mL of blood, but during intense exercise, it can increase to about 16mL difference.

This signifies that tissues, especially skeletal muscles, consume more oxygen from the blood during exercise, resulting in a higher a-VO₂ difference.

The Importance of VO₂ in Cardiovascular Fitness and Heart Disease

To meet the oxygen demand during exercise, the body increases stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each pump) and heart rate. However, there's a limit to how much oxygen can be delivered to the tissues, known as VO₂ max.

This is the maximum capacity of our cardiovascular system to supply oxygen to the working muscles. VO₂ max represents the peak of aerobic performance, and it plays a significant role in gauging overall cardiorespiratory fitness.

Now, let's address why VO₂ is so important.

First and foremost, VO₂ max is the most representative measure of cardiorespiratory fitness available. While there are various tests that rank fitness based on different scales and percentiles, they lack direct physiological measurements. VO₂, on the other hand, provides a direct assessment of oxygen transportation from the lungs to the muscles and its utilization for work.

The second reason for the importance of VO₂ is its correlation with heart disease. Studies have consistently shown that individuals with low VO₂ are at a higher risk of heart disease and mortality, independent of other risk factors such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, or high blood pressure.

Improving VO₂ by even a small amount can lead to a significant increase in the chances of survival, making it a valuable modifiable risk factor!

What’s a good VO₂ max?

VO₂ max numbers vary from person to person. Factors like age, gender and fitness level will affect your VO₂ max number. Check follow tables as a generic guidelines.

How to improve VO₂ Max

You can increase and improve your VO₂ max in two ways:

1. By increasing the amount of blood your heart can pump;

2. By increasing how much oxygen your muscles can take up.

The following tips may help you develop these two components!

Opt for High-intensity Intervals

You can train your VO₂ max most efficiently by working at a high intensity.

Many running coaches recommend training at around 90 to 95 percent of your maximum heart rate.

Working near your max heart rate helps strengthen the muscles in your heart and increase the volume of bloodTrusted Source it can pump with each beat.

You can approximate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220.

Hill Training

Find a hill in your neighborhood or nearby with a good grade — something challenging but not overwhelming.

Run as hard as you can up the hill, then run slowly downhill until you get back to where you started. Repeat the process at least ~4 times.

Combine Interval And Continuous Training

Incorporating both continuous training and interval training in your workout program may be more effective than only performing one of the two.

Many of the studies Trusted Source that have found the largest increase in VO₂ max have used a 10-week training program consisting of six workouts per week.

In the studies, participants performed intervals and continuous running on alternate days.

On interval days, they performed six 5-minute sessions on a stationary bike at a workload close to their VO₂ max separated by 2 minutes of recovery between each interval.

On continuous running days, participants ran as far as possible for 30 minutes per day the first week, 35 minutes the second week, and for at least 40 minutes during the remaining weeks.

It’s worth noting that this program is quite intense and is only suitable for people who are already fit. In the first study to use this program, participants continued to see increases in VO₂ max at the end of the study, but participants started to drop out because of the difficulty of the training.

Conclusion

VO2 is a critical metric for understanding cardiovascular fitness and predicting the risk of heart disease.

As we continue to explore exercise physiology, there are various topics we can delve into, from VO2 measurement and graded exercise testing to aerobic exercise adaptations and the effects of training on VO2!

Trivia Question: The 1960 Olympic Marathon was won by a bare-footed Ethiopian who four years later became the man to repeat such a victory. Who has he?

Find the answer at the end of this email.

Kenyan Post-Run Stretching Routine

A few days ago while I was searching YT for some stretching routines I found this fantastic video on Youtube of Kenyan post-run stretching routine which helps with mobility and recovery!

It was posted by Luis Orta – a Venezuelan Olympic marathoner.

I tried this routine and fell in love with it. I love it’s rhythm and it has become my everyday post-run routine now.

I may add a few more stretches after this but I really found this one quite helpful. And the best part is – it doesn’t take too long to complete.

Do try it and let me know your thoughts!

The Incredible Derek Redmond’s Story

In 2012 — the year that the Summer Olympics took place in London — Derek Redmond told a story about a day that changed his life.

A 400-metre record holder, in Britain, Redmond was at the peak of his athletic abilities on the day he took his starting-line position during the Barcelona semi-finals in 1992. His father was there to watch his Olympian son compete.

Everything seemed fine, during the run, until...

It wasn’t.

Along the back straight, Redmond's hamstring snapped.

He fell to the ground in pain.

After his fall, Derek stood up. Determined to finish the race, he could only hop toward the finish line.

Everyone who was watching could see pain etched on his face. Still he did not give up. Jim Redmond was also watching from the stands. Trying to join his son, on the track, Jim pushed-away an Olympic official who tried to stop him.

He had something important to do and would not be deterred by anyone or anything.

Someone else crossed the finish-line first, in that semi-final race, but few people remember the moment when Steve Lewis (an American) did that.

Everyone was watching Derek Redmond who was showing the world what it means to be an Olympic athlete.

Not only did Derek Redmond understand the meaning of “perseverance” in 1992, he understood it four years before (in Seoul) and years before that (as he honed his skills and competed in his chosen sport).

That perseverance helped him to find the courage he needed to finish the 400m race.

After his Barcelona injury, when he learned he could no-longer compete in the the 400m — or any other distance runs — Derek did not give-up his athletic life. Instead, he switched sports, playing professional basketball for the Birmingham Bullets.

After his competitive days as an athlete were over for good, and Derek chose to be a motivational speaker, he had the credentials to forge another career.

It was his very-public and pain-filled time in Barcelona — where his personal determination and his father’s love got him to the finish line — that people respected.

Sometimes life takes us down pathways we never anticipated and do not want. We have significant choices to face when those events occur.

We can persevere, like Derek Redmond, or we can give-up our dreams. We can succeed, in other ways, or we can succumb to self-pity.

We have other choices to make, as well, involving our friends and loved ones. We can accept their help — as Derek did, from his father — or we can turn-away those offers of love and assistance.

We may have no control over unplanned and unwanted events, like a snapped hamstring, but we have absolute control over our own responses.

Sometimes bad events actually lead to days which can change our lives — for the better — just like the day that changed Derek Redmond's life.

Road to Sub 1h20 update

Last week's training block was ~68km:

1. Monday: 40min Z3

2. Tuesday: Gym

3. Wednesday: AM Gym + PM 10×500m

4. Thursday: PM 1h Easy + Gym

5. Friday: Gym

6. Saturday: 15km Easy

7. Sunday: 18km Easy

As you can see I missed the running session on Friday, this happened because I felt my body very tired so I opted only for a short workout in the gym.

Remember rule #0: Listen Your Body, always! – Last year I got injured and had to be off for a month because I wasn't listening to my body, so… lesson learned!

Then last week… SOAR has delivered!

I received SOAR’S products and was impressed with their quality! The products are incredibly lightweight, it almost feels like you're wearing nothing, i love this feeling!

I’ll start to post more photos and contents with these products on my Strava, my IG and in the next issues soon!

Be sure to hit a follow on my Strava and Instagram!

SPOILER ALERT: I'm trying to organize a giveaway in collaboration with SOAR so you all can WIN Soar’s products – I’ll give you update about this asap!

Lastly, these are the results of the quiz in which I asked you if you would like to receive the recap email at the beginning of each month:

So... the recap’s emails are official!

From now on, every beginning of the month you will receive a recap email with all the publications of the previous month and some other interesting insights!

Just for Laughs 😂

Trivia Answer: Abebe Bikila - His incredible story here.

Latest Editions

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• How To Running Faster Without Getting Tired (Link)

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From your running friend that's it for today! As always i hope you enjoyed this issue!

See you on next Monday!

I’m incredibly grateful for this little newsletter and community of The Running Week. Thank you.

PS. Let's connect on Strava, here’s my profile

Matteo, your new running friend.