VO2 max is the maximum volume of oxygen your body can consume, transport, and use per kilogram of body weight during intense, maximal exercise, expressed in mL/kg/min. It serves as a primary marker of cardiorespiratory fitness, endurance capacity, and long-term health.
But please tell me more how it’s not related to endurance at all or something. Or is the Mayo Clinic wrong too? It is measured at max effort, but it’s a measurement of how much oxygen your body can use generally.
ultra endurance athletes typically have VO2Maxes in the 60 or above range. they don’t have ones in the 30-40 range.
the higher your vo2max, the better endurance you have for any aerobic activity, because as you increase you vo2max, you increase your ability to process oxygen generally. it’s also an adaptive metric, it’s not innate. You get a higher vo2max by training and you get better endurance by doing maximal efforts that enhance your cardio fitness.
Where Vo2Max doesn’t matter is for anaerobic activity, where your body isn’t processing oxygen for fuel. Like power lifting.
It’s also why blood doping works, because enhance your red cell count and therefore your vo2max. it doesn’t enhance your mitochondrial efficiency at all.
you need both, hence why endurance athletes need maximal effort training and they can’t just run at zone 2 forever and expect to get better.
it’s because what matters is vo2max.
men have higher vo2max, but also higher mass, so in the end the supply of oxygen is the same.
it has nothing to do with pain. it’s about your bodies ability to power itself, and that overwhelmingly comes from oxygen uptake.
that and how many carb you can uptake, which is proportional to your mass.
You think vo2 max is important for ultra endurance? I would say mitochondrial efficiency is more important in anything above say 12 hours.
you need oxygen to create energy.
there is no such thing as anaerobic endurance. it’s aerobic.
VO2 max is a measure of how much oxygen you can use at max effort. Ultra endurance has little to do with this metric.
(Dw I never read your sports studies grade 1 response to this)
But please tell me more how it’s not related to endurance at all or something. Or is the Mayo Clinic wrong too? It is measured at max effort, but it’s a measurement of how much oxygen your body can use generally.
ultra endurance athletes typically have VO2Maxes in the 60 or above range. they don’t have ones in the 30-40 range.
the higher your vo2max, the better endurance you have for any aerobic activity, because as you increase you vo2max, you increase your ability to process oxygen generally. it’s also an adaptive metric, it’s not innate. You get a higher vo2max by training and you get better endurance by doing maximal efforts that enhance your cardio fitness.
Where Vo2Max doesn’t matter is for anaerobic activity, where your body isn’t processing oxygen for fuel. Like power lifting.
It’s also why blood doping works, because enhance your red cell count and therefore your vo2max. it doesn’t enhance your mitochondrial efficiency at all.
you need both, hence why endurance athletes need maximal effort training and they can’t just run at zone 2 forever and expect to get better.
Well the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell.