Oct 27, 2026 · 38 min · 10 segments
Your watch says your VO₂ max has dropped. Does that actually mean you’re getting less fit? In this episode, Shona and Devlin unpack what VO₂ max really tells runners over 50, why the number on your…
Devlin EydenHostShona HendricksHostYou know, we hear VO2max, we kind of have this idea that obviously a high VO2max is a good thing.
A lot of the elites have high VO2max, but really what are we actually measuring when we talk about VO2max and what does that mean?
So I feel like you set this topic up coming, talking about your VO2max going down.
And VO2 max is obviously the highest amount of oxygen that you can utilize per minute.
And utilize, I'm referring to your body, your muscles, everything requires oxygen in order to function.
VO2max is one of those things that's also, I mean, we keep talking about watches and we'll get into them a little bit later.
But if we really want to be scientific and we really want to be targeting VO2 properly, it is actually something that has to be measured in a lab with an oxygen mask, or not an oxygen mask on, a mask on that's measuring the oxygen utilization, your carbon dioxide production, and doing things under strict sort of protocols in order to determine what your true VO2 max is.
Is it really a measure of how fit you are? I mean, you know, that's sort of what we're looking at here.
And is there a high correlation with that? You know, we often speak of the elites having high VO2s.
I know you and I have worked in a lab environment and seen some really high VO2 max scores when we were working with some of the SA triathletes and obviously some of the SA rowers.
But yeah, is it a measure of how fit you are? What does it actually represent with regards to that?
Yeah, so... suppose how fit you are is quite a a wide term but there's a there's a lot of components that come in or components of fitness that determine that however vo2 max is a really good tool to sort of say what capacity you have to perform so it it is there you you refer to elite athletes i mean you're not going to find an elite athlete or a world record holder in any endurance sport that has a poor vo2 max so it is a really good indicator of what your ability is from a performance point of view however i come back again to the point of there are so many different components and not just components of fitness so not just your explosive power for example or your speed or your strength but psychologically they come into play um how you handle pressure environmental conditions, all sorts of things that come into play on race day, for example, that can hamper a performance.
You're going into a race in a pretty good ability, but you might still have an absolutely poor race because you can't handle the pressure or you had a poor night's sleep the night before.
So... a very valuable tool but i think we need to kind of put it as one of the tools in the toolbox and not kind of rely on that to determine how you're racing on race day
You know, we hear VO2max, we kind of have this idea that obviously a high VO2max is a good thing.
A lot of the elites have high VO2max, but really what are we actually measuring when we talk about VO2max and what does that mean?
So I feel like you set this topic up coming, talking about your VO2max going down.
And VO2 max is obviously the highest amount of oxygen that you can utilize per minute.
And utilize, I'm referring to your body, your muscles, everything requires oxygen in order to function.
VO2max is one of those things that's also, I mean, we keep talking about watches and we'll get into them a little bit later.
But if we really want to be scientific and we really want to be targeting VO2 properly, it is actually something that has to be measured in a lab with an oxygen mask, or not an oxygen mask on, a mask on that's measuring the oxygen utilization, your carbon dioxide production, and doing things under strict sort of protocols in order to determine what your true VO2 max is.
Is it really a measure of how fit you are? I mean, you know, that's sort of what we're looking at here.
And is there a high correlation with that? You know, we often speak of the elites having high VO2s.
I know you and I have worked in a lab environment and seen some really high VO2 max scores when we were working with some of the SA triathletes and obviously some of the SA rowers.
But yeah, is it a measure of how fit you are? What does it actually represent with regards to that?
Yeah, so... suppose how fit you are is quite a a wide term but there's a there's a lot of components that come in or components of fitness that determine that however vo2 max is a really good tool to sort of say what capacity you have to perform so it it is there you you refer to elite athletes i mean you're not going to find an elite athlete or a world record holder in any endurance sport that has a poor vo2 max so it is a really good indicator of what your ability is from a performance point of view however i come back again to the point of there are so many different components and not just components of fitness so not just your explosive power for example or your speed or your strength but psychologically they come into play um how you handle pressure environmental conditions, all sorts of things that come into play on race day, for example, that can hamper a performance.
You're going into a race in a pretty good ability, but you might still have an absolutely poor race because you can't handle the pressure or you had a poor night's sleep the night before.
So... a very valuable tool but i think we need to kind of put it as one of the tools in the toolbox and not kind of rely on that to determine how you're racing on race day
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
