VO2 max

What is VO2 max and how is it measured?

During cardiovascular endurance exercise, your heart tries to keep up with the requirements of your muscles to provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide so that you can continue to exercise.  As exercise intensity increases, your circulatory and respiratory system need to work harder and harder to meet the oxygen needs of your working muscles (using your AEROBIC energy system).  Your VO2 max is measured at the point that you can no longer sustain the activity.  VO2 max is a measure of overall cardiovascular fitness, specifically how well your body transports and uses O2.

What is your VO2 max?  Use the calculator in the following link to see an estimation based on your beep test score.

VO2MAX

Maximal oxygen uptake norms for men (ml/kg/min)

	Age (years)
rating	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	56-65	65+
excellent	> 60	> 56	> 51	> 45	> 41	> 37
good	52-60	49-56	43-51	39-45	36-41	33-37
above average	47-51	43-48	39-42	36-38	32-35	29-32
average	42-46	40-42	35-38	32-35	30-31	26-28
below average	37-41	35-39	31-34	29-31	26-29	22-25
poor	30-36	30-34	26-30	25-28	22-25	20-21
very poor	< 30	< 30	< 26	< 25	< 22	< 20

Maximal oxygen uptake norms for women (ml/kg/min)

	Age (years)
rating	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55	56-65	65+
excellent	> 56	> 52	> 45	> 40	> 37	> 32
good	47-56	45-52	38-45	34-40	32-37	28-32
above average	42-46	39-44	34-37	31-33	28-31	25-27
average	38-41	35-38	31-33	28-30	25-27	22-24
below average	33-37	31-34	27-30	25-27	22-24	19-21
poor	28-32	26-30	22-26	20-24	18-21	17-18
very poor	< 28	< 26	< 22	< 20	< 18	< 17

source: these norms have been derived from several and now unknown sources.

Read the following article about the 3 energy systems that produce ATP during exercise & complete the cut and paste notes provided.

3 metabolic energy systems

What type of energy system were we training yesterday with the hill run?