What is VO2 Max & Could It Be The Most Important Health Metric? · Stay Healthy Live Longer - Age Slowly, Look Good & Feel Great! · Radar

What VO2 Max Measures1:49 – 4:23

1:49

The name itself is a bit of a mouthful, but once you break it down, it's pretty straightforward.

1:54

VO2 stands for oxygen and max simply means maximum.

1:59

So VO2 max is quite literally the maximum volume of oxygen your body is able to take in and use during intense exercise.

2:09

It's usually measured in millimeters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, which sounds technical, but all that really means is how efficiently your body can deliver oxygen to your muscles and use it to produce energy relative to your size.

2:27

Here's a way of thinking about it that helped me to get my head around it a little better.

2:31

If you imagine your body as an engine, for that engine to perform, whether you're sprinting for a bus or climbing a hill, it needs fuel and oxygen working together to produce energy.

2:43

Your lungs are responsible for pulling oxygen out of the air.

2:47

Your heart and your blood vessels then have to pump that oxygen rich blood around your body.

2:54

And finally, your muscles need to be able to be efficient at actually using that oxygen once it arrives down at the cellular level inside little structures called mitochondria, which are often called the powerhouse of our cells.

3:10

Your VO2max is essentially a measure of how well that entire chain, so lungs, heart, blood vessels, muscles, mitochondria, works together as one coordinated system.

3:25

And what makes this metric so special, it's not measuring one organ in isolation, it's measuring the combined output of pretty much your entire cardiovascular and metabolic system all at once.

3:41

Now, this isn't a brand new concept.

3:43

Exercise physiologists have been studying it since the 1920s.

3:46

And for the best part of a century, it's mostly belonged to the world elite sport.

3:52

Coaches have used it to track marathon runners, cyclists, rowers, cross-country skiers, anyone really whose performance depends on how much oxygen they can deliver and use under sustained effort.

4:05

And it's a really good measure of how fit an athlete is and using it allows their performance to be tracked over time.

4:13

But what used to be a niche metric for athletes has in the last few years broken out into the mainstream world of everyday health and longevity.

What VO2 Max Measures1:49 – 4:23

1:49

The name itself is a bit of a mouthful, but once you break it down, it's pretty straightforward.

1:54

VO2 stands for oxygen and max simply means maximum.

1:59

So VO2 max is quite literally the maximum volume of oxygen your body is able to take in and use during intense exercise.

2:09

It's usually measured in millimeters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, which sounds technical, but all that really means is how efficiently your body can deliver oxygen to your muscles and use it to produce energy relative to your size.

2:27

Here's a way of thinking about it that helped me to get my head around it a little better.

2:31

If you imagine your body as an engine, for that engine to perform, whether you're sprinting for a bus or climbing a hill, it needs fuel and oxygen working together to produce energy.

2:43

Your lungs are responsible for pulling oxygen out of the air.

2:47

Your heart and your blood vessels then have to pump that oxygen rich blood around your body.

2:54

And finally, your muscles need to be able to be efficient at actually using that oxygen once it arrives down at the cellular level inside little structures called mitochondria, which are often called the powerhouse of our cells.

3:10

Your VO2max is essentially a measure of how well that entire chain, so lungs, heart, blood vessels, muscles, mitochondria, works together as one coordinated system.

3:25

And what makes this metric so special, it's not measuring one organ in isolation, it's measuring the combined output of pretty much your entire cardiovascular and metabolic system all at once.

3:41

Now, this isn't a brand new concept.

3:43

Exercise physiologists have been studying it since the 1920s.

3:46

And for the best part of a century, it's mostly belonged to the world elite sport.

3:52

Coaches have used it to track marathon runners, cyclists, rowers, cross-country skiers, anyone really whose performance depends on how much oxygen they can deliver and use under sustained effort.

4:05

And it's a really good measure of how fit an athlete is and using it allows their performance to be tracked over time.

4:13

But what used to be a niche metric for athletes has in the last few years broken out into the mainstream world of everyday health and longevity.