VO2 What?

In the world of endurance, it seems like you can’t talk about fitness without talking about VO2 max. Ask any endurance athlete about it and you’ll hear epic stories with names like Indurain, LeMond, and Armstrong. However, many of you may wonder what exactly VO2 max is. And why it is so important. To better understand this concept, let’s take a little trip back to school, specifically to physiology class. According to the Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning textbook, VO2 max. It is the maximum amount of oxygen in milliliters that can be used in one minute per kilogram of body weight (ml / kg / min). In other words, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max) is the highest amount of oxygen that can be used at the cellular level for the entire body. VO2 max. It correlates well with the degree of physical conditioning of an individual and has been accepted as a total body fitness index. Numerous studies show that you can increase your VO2 max by exercising at an intensity that raises your heart rate between 65% and 85% of your maximum, for at least 20 minutes, three to five times a week. The estimated mean value of VO2 max. For male athletes it is approximately 3.5 liters / minute and for female athletes it is approximately 2.7 liters / minute.

Now that we know what VO2 is, we can answer the question, “Why is it so important?” For the endurance athlete, VO2 has long been considered the holy grail of fitness. The common reasoning is that the better oxygen can be utilized, the higher the level that can be performed in endurance events. However, is this really the case?

Although VO2 max. It is an important component of any resistance program, I have good news and bad news for those of us who may not have chosen the right parents. The bad news is, according to exercise physiologist Neal Henderson, coordinator of Sports Sciences at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Colorado, VO2 is about 80% genetic. Other estimates place this number between 30 and 60%. Whatever the number, one thing is for sure; there is a genetic ceiling for VO2. The good news is that you can train your VO2. Unfortunately, if Neal Henderson’s 80% estimate is correct, and your VO2 is, for example, 45 ml / kg- / min (average), your best value may be only 52 ml / kg- / min after a 20% gain (52 ml / kg- / min is considered good or just above average).

To put this in perspective, Lance Armstrong logged 84 ml / kg / min, while cross-country skier Bjorn Daehlie measured a staggering 96 ml / kg / min. The highest VO2 max ever recorded in a lab was 300 ml / kg / min! This, of course, did not belong to a human, but to a pronghorn antelope. I’ll never know how they got the antelope to run on the treadmill, but I promise you I’m not making it up. Thoroughbred horses have a VO2max of around 180 ml / kg / min, and Siberian dogs that run in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have VO2 values ​​as high as 240 ml / kg / min. To add even more perspective, Olympic marathon winners and elite runners like Jeff Galloway, Alberto Salazar, and Frank Shorter are in their 70s and 70s (see Table 2 for a list of athletes and their respective VO2s).

The good news is, like the runners mentioned above, although it may be at your genetic potential, there are many factors besides VO2 max. That can also influence your success in endurance performance. Improving efficiency and economy of movement, as well as increasing your anaerobic threshold (LT), can lead to performance improvements in the absence of increases in VO2. These three components can be addressed through a functional strength training program. Now let’s take a closer look at each of these components.

Moving on, in our physiology lesson, now would be a good time to talk about lactate threshold (LT) and its relationship to VO2. Dr. Stephen Seiler of Masters Athlete Physiology and Performance says, “For the endurance athlete, a high VO2 max is like having an invitation to the big dance, but having an invitation to the dance does not guarantee that you will dance with the prettiest girl.” If you want to dance with that girl, you’ll have to work on your LT! (And you thought it was the big guns and washboard abs that appealed to the girls) LT, as noted in one of my previous articles (see Lactic Acid; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), is the point where the body produces more lactic acid than it can clear up. LT training will result in a decrease in lactate production at any given exercise intensity. Untrained individuals generally reach LT at approximately 60% of VO2 max. This means that even if my VO2 is 70ml / kg / min, which is an elite level, I can only use 60%, or 42ml / kg / min (average), before my LT turns me off. However, with training, the LT can increase from 60% to more than 70% or even more. Elite endurance athletes typically have a LT equal to or greater than 80% VO2 max. Although most endurance athletes tend to train LT in the pool, on a bike, or during the run, we have several protocols in the gym specifically designed to improve LT. Furthermore, because movement specificity is very important when training the LT, these protocols target both the lower and upper body (see Table 1).

Last but not least, we can now address efficiency and economy of motion. The difference between efficiency and economy in an exercise environment is that, for a given energy consumption, economy is measured as speed of movement, while efficiency is measured as mechanical power output. What does it all mean? It means that efficiency and economy can be just as important as VO2 or LT. To better understand this concept, just think about the last time you went out for a group walk. Was it easier to pull up the front or to sit up? Sit down, of course! Why is that? Because sitting allows for more efficient movement and less effort, which in turn will allow you to be more economical. Think of every joint in a given movement as an opportunity to lose power. The more joints that are involved in a movement, the more opportunities there will be to lose energy; the more stable the joint, the less energy leaks out; the less energy is filtered, the more efficiency in a given activity.

So how do these concepts apply to strength training? I am often asked to observe someone running on the treadmill and observe their gait. Instead, I ask them to do 10 anterior stretches on one leg. If this is difficult, that tells me that her hips are not as stable as they could be and her stride might not be as good as it should be. The same goes for the shoulder joint. If you can’t handle a series of t-stabilization push-ups with good form, then your swimming style is not as efficient and economical as it could be.

Now, for all the skeptics, all I ask of you is to give it a try. Perhaps before the next time you go to test your VO2 (not fun by any means), you could first try taking a look at your previous stretches or push-ups in to the protocol listed in Table 1. These alternatives are not intended. to point out your shortcomings or embarrass you, but rather to empower you. Instead of complaining about genetics (though trust me, I still do), try testing your limits in some of the ways mentioned above. I assure you that you will find what my most successful clients have found; that through a comprehensive functional strength training program, economy, efficiency, and lactate threshold can be improved, making VO2 max less important.

Table 1
Super Legs
Exercise repetition notes
Quick Squats 20 20 reps in less than 20 seconds in parallel
Lunges 20 (10 per side) alternate legs, knee just off the ground
Random Square / Split Jump 20 (10 per side) Use 9 “box
Squat jumps 10 Squats in parallel and without rest between jumps
Complete the entire circuit without resting in less than 1:30

Table 2
Athlete Sport VO2
92.5 Greg LeMond Professional Cyclist
92.0 Matt Carpenter Pikes Peak marathon race record holder
91.0 Harri Kirvesniem Finnish cross-country skier
88.0 Miguel Indurain Professional cyclist
87.4 Marius Bakken Norwegian 5k record holder
85.0 Dave Bedford 10k world record
84.4 Steve Prefontaine American running back
84.0 Lance Armstrong Professional Cyclist
82.0 Kip Keino 1500 Olympic Champion
81.1 Craig Virgin Cross Country World Champion x2
81.0 Jim Ryun US miler WR support
80.1 Steve Scott USA Miler 3:47
78.6 Joan Benoit 1984 Olympic Marathon Champion
78.5 Bill Rodgers 2:09:27 marathoner
77.4 Don Kardong 2:11:15 marathoner
77.0 Sebastian Coe 1500 WR mile
76.0 Alberto Salazar 2:08:51 marathoner
74.4 Johnny Halberstadt 2:11:44 marathoner
73.3 Bruce Fordyce Ultramarathoner
73.0 Jeff Galloway Execution Expert
73.0 Buddy Edelen 2:14:28 marathon world record (1963)
72.3 Peter Snell Olympic champion
71.3 Frank Shorter winner of the US Olympic marathon
71.2 Ingrid Kristiansen Former marathon world record holder
70.3 Willie Mtolo 2:08:15 marathoner
67.2 Rosa Mota marathon runner

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