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Health vs Hype with the American Medical Association
VO2 Max Explained: Does This Viral Fitness Metric Actually Predict Health & Longevity?
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- [00:04]
Danny
Ruby I was really curious to find out what my actual VO2 max score was.
- [00:11]
Grace Hilzen
There were a lot of influencers doing their VO2 max and then even like just sharing information on what it means.
- [00:17]
Brandon Osborne
I am curious what this number actually is and how it really affects me.
- [00:23]
Dr. Robert Maynard
If we're talking about VO2 Max specifically, it's a very important number.
- [00:27]
Trace Dominguez
You've probably heard the term before VO2 max. Maybe you follow fitness information influencers who are constantly sharing their smartwatch stats after intense exercise. Maybe you've seen the testing videos on your social media feed. You know the ones where people are like running with a funny face mask on and they're going really fast on a treadmill. VO2 max scores are even. This is real showing up on dating profiles as a fitness brag. VO2 max scores are in the spotlight and it makes it seem like it's the only metric that matters in your fitness and health journey. But what do all those tests and numbers really mean for your health? It's a question lots of people are trying to answer for themselves. From elite athletes like Danny Serkin and Grace Hilzen who are figuring out how it fits into their training and performance.
- [01:12]
Danny
There's a litany of other things that basically determine how your performance as an athlete is, and it's not solely determined by VO2 max.
- [01:20]
Grace Hilzen
I am a performance driven runner, but also like the more you identify your performance in the form of numbers, the less that you really find satisfaction out of what you do.
- [01:31]
Trace Dominguez
To average folks like Brandon Osborne, who is wondering if knowing their VO2 max score is meaningful for their overall health and longevity.
- [01:39]
Brandon Osborne
I'm not in my 20s anymore where I could just take on the world and be fine. It could happen where all of a sudden all my dreams and ambitions go away, all because I didn't pay attention to these numbers.
- [01:50]
Trace Dominguez
To doctors like Robert Maynard who want people to understand why what this test
- [01:54]
Dr. Robert Maynard
is really about, remember that you know the person who crosses the finish line first. It may or may not be the person with the vest. VO2 max.
- [02:02]
Trace Dominguez
Welcome back to Health vs Hype with the American Medical Association. I'm your host, Trace Dominguez. Today we're talking about VO2 max at its simplest. VO2 max is a measure of how much oxygen your body can use during exercise. It's often described as your body's horsepower or the maximum output you can sustain during physical activity, like running, for example. You might might also hear it called maximal oxygen consumption or aerobic capacity. But for now we'll stick to the normal VO2 max. We'll get into the more technical definition in a minute. Lately, VO2 Max has taken off online as a must know fitness metric. But does this number really tell you how fit or healthy you are? Is the VO2 max score on your fitness tracker accurate? Or should you rush out and take that lab test with the mask on the treadmill? And does your VO2 max score even matter as much as the hype suggests? Let's find out whether this viral metric is all health or just hype. This is an iHeart podcast.
- [03:08]
Grace Hilzen
Guaranteed Human. Your social media feed delivers plenty of advice, but it doesn't know you. It doesn't ask questions. It doesn't give physical exams or order tests doctors do. At the American Medical association, we believe the best care starts with a real conversation, with someone who understands the science and your unique health. So stay curious, ask questions. But when it's time to make decisions, make them with a doctor. Learn more@amahealthvshype.org that's amahealthvshipe.org.
- [03:51]
Trace Dominguez
While our goal today is to separate health from hype when it comes to VO2 max, there is another question kind of floating around in the background. Is this metric useful for everyone or just elite athletes? We're going to start on one end of the athletic spectrum today with Grace and Danny. Grace has a background in multiple sports and has completed nine marathons.
- [04:12]
Danny
Wow.
- [04:13]
Trace Dominguez
Danny was a collegiate swimmer at USC through 2025 and has recently transitioned into triathlon compet. They're both considered elite athletes, a status confirmed by their VO2 max scores, which we will reveal later. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Brandon. He's getting back into running for general fitness after taking a stretch of time off to focus on being a dad. Relatable clinical VO2 max tests are available at some specialized sports medicine facilities, university exercise science departments, high end gyms, and dedicated performance labs like the one Grace went to. They typically cost between 100 and $200. I was curious what the experience of going through the test was like, so here they are describing it.
- [04:56]
Grace Hilzen
VO2 maxes are available in many places. Find the nearest one and they'll kind of walk you through what to do.
- [05:02]
Danny
I got to a physical therapy clinic, signed all the paperwork and went over to the treadmill area.
- [05:08]
Dr. Robert Maynard
All right, ready?
- [05:09]
Brandon Osborne
Then I set my stuff up and he pulls out this I like, I like to call it, and he called it too, a bane mask. Like it was literally like over your mouth, your nose and it had a nice suction all the way around it Straps in the back. And then it's sitting on there really tightly and not so bad that it's like cutting off a circulation, but it also needs to be tight enough that when you're running, it's not going to bounce up and down.
- [05:35]
Grace Hilzen
It's actually a little heavy. Heavier than I thought. Like, just looking at the videos and pictures of it and the way it sits on your face, it's kind of awkward. You can't really see your feet. So, like, imagine running on a treadmill and you're like. You're not looking at your feet.
- [05:49]
Danny
They start it at a low speed and 0% incline, and every two minutes, the speed will increase as well as the incline.
- [05:58]
Brandon Osborne
As you're, like, kind of running, you can hear it, like, squeaking, almost, like, as you're breathing out and breathing in, it's taking that in and going out.
- [06:08]
Grace Hilzen
And as it's getting faster, your heart rate's obviously, like, going up, and they just kind of want to see where you can max out.
- [06:14]
Brandon Osborne
As we kept upping the numbers, it was just. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.
- [06:19]
Grace Hilzen
And then, like, once you're just, like, completely gassed, they'll take it off and then they'll show you where the number lies.
- [06:26]
Danny
By the end, I was hurting pretty bad.
- [06:29]
Trace Dominguez
And all of that takes about 10 to 15 minutes. So after hearing about it, I can imagine this might be a test you don't really look forward to taking. So why do it at all if you don't have to?
- [06:42]
Grace Hilzen
There's something I always do before I go into a marathon training, and it's kind of like doing some analysis on ways to improve, like, my running. Like, you know, just comparing it to, like, previous training. I think my VO2 max. I do believe that it probably has changed based on the training I've put in from then to now. And it's not the number I just want to make this clear. Like, it's not the number itself that I want to chase. But I think what I want to understand more is the data is okay. Maybe my heart rate has gotten even lower now. So what does that mean for my zones? What does that mean for my threshold?
- [07:17]
Trace Dominguez
Danny had a similar reason.
- [07:19]
Danny
Like I mentioned before, I'm a little bit of a nerd. So everything that I've done is basically anchored on data. I have my best friend here on my wrist, my Garmin watch. And the way I think of it is you can look at your pace, you could look at how much power you're putting through the bike. You could look at your swim times. But that's only one factor. And I found that it's best to basically have a pace or power couple with heart rate. So in my experience, that was really the best way that I could gauge if I was making progress.
- [07:55]
Trace Dominguez
So, for example, let's say Danny was biking at a certain number of watts at a heart rate of 140. If he continued progressing along and holding a higher number of watts at that same heart rate, 140, that means he's becoming more aerobically efficient. So what about the rest of us? You know, the ones not training for marathons or triathlons who get tired when they're biking, even on a flat surface? That's not autobiographical. Why would we want to know this VO2 max number? For that, I wanted to hear what Brandon had to say.
- [08:25]
Brandon Osborne
I'm an average dad. I have ups, I have downs. I have gained weight. I've lost weight. I've gained weight. I'm in my mid-30s, fell off, dad. Life happened. I just stopped prioritizing myself. So last year was the first time I've ever heard of VO2 Max. I have an apple watch that I track everything on, and my health app gave me a notification that says, your VO2 max has increased. And I'm like, I have no idea what that means, you know? So I'm, like, looking at it, and I'm curious what this number actually is and how it really affects me and how I can use it to benefit myself. Is this just for professional athletes?
- [09:06]
Trace Dominguez
Of course. Being an average dad, Brandon was also thinking about family.
- [09:11]
Brandon Osborne
My family kind of has a history of heart stuff. VO2 Max isn't going to tell me if I have blocked arteries or anything like that, but it is telling me that my heart is pumping and that my body is kind of built for this. So safety, health, and making sure that I'm not pushing myself too far too quickly. I do want to be around for my kids, and it would just be interesting to be like, oh, look, I was running. And that was my downfall of all things, because I wasn't paying attention to actual numbers.
- [09:41]
Trace Dominguez
To test or not to test? That is the question. To understand more about the science behind VO2 max, I asked Dr. Robert Maynard, the director of the Cardiac rehabilitation unit at Henry Ford Providence Hospitals in Detroit, to join us. First up, we'll finally dive into the technical definition of VO2 max. I promised this earlier. Here we are. And this is Dr. Maynard.
- [10:06]
Dr. Robert Maynard
So VO2 max is a test that we use in the clinical situation to guide Care. It can also be used to evaluate athletes and their performance. And it measures the oxygen consumption and it measures it per unit mass. So that's going to be kilograms per unit time and per minute. And so the average ranges of VO2 max are between 35 and 55. And they're very much related to a person's age, their weight, their heredity, their trading status. And what we'll see is a General Decline in VO2max from our 20s moving through the decades.
- [10:48]
Trace Dominguez
VO2max very literally describes your highest, that is the maximum volume, that is the V of oxygen intake, that is the O2. So maximum volume of oxygen intake. There are a few ways to calculate it, which we'll get to in a minute, but you may still be wondering where this number actually comes from. So they measure the volume of oxygen intake in milliliters while you're running on that treadmill. So the milliliters are then divided by your body weight and the time to find your average oxygen intake in a single minute. So an average person usually has a max volume of about 35-55 ML of oxygen for every kilogram of their weight in a single minute. And that's where they get the number. This number, of course, is affected by a myriad of health factors like your age, your exercise routine. Here's Dr. Maynard again.
- [11:42]
Dr. Robert Maynard
So there's a premium we get for getting older, and it's gonna, in general have a downward pressure on our VO2MA, but there's things that anyone can do at any stage in their lives to modify this number. And I'd say, just as a tangent quickly, that it's a very important number. It's not the only way that one person should assess their health and wellness. But just saying that this is a very important number. It's one of the more correlated numbers with outcomes. There's training volume, whether it's going to be something in intensity, like a HIIT type training program, whether there's like a more steady state exposure to training. Each of these things collectively are going to move your VO2 max up as we become more conditioned, as our muscle mass increases, and as our ability to extract oxygen increases from the muscle level.
- [12:30]
Trace Dominguez
Hmm, interesting. So in the past few years, VO2max has become this kind of topic in longevity in wellness circles. Why do you think it's trending all of a sudden?
- [12:40]
Dr. Robert Maynard
It's a great metric for health variables. It helps distill those complex issues into a single number. So I don't think people are wrong to be talking about it as A important health metric.
- [12:53]
Trace Dominguez
Yeah. When you see it talked about, or if you see it talked about, what are usually people getting right and what are you. Like, maybe that's oversimplified.
- [13:01]
Danny
Yeah.
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Dr. Robert Maynard
I mean, I think people are right to bring up this test in response to how it influences longevity, outcome and health and wellness. I think that part is very real and we shouldn't underestimate its influence. But too often people do get wrapped up in one particular variable, and I think that that could be problematic. And when you have kids and, you know, and they're coming into you and they're asking you for advice or they're dealing with something and they're just distraught because they got a B on a test. And, you know, as a parent, you're sitting there going, listen, life is more than just one test. It's more than just one variable. And that's what I want to. I think is what I want to tell people is that there's a whole gamut of elements that go into how well you feel, how well you perform your daily tasks, what your wellness is. And so when they think when people get too influenced by one particular variable or they train to that test and they forget all the other components of health and wellness, I think that's a little bit problematic.
- [13:59]
Trace Dominguez
That aligns with something Grace Hilzen told us. Let me play this clip for you now and get your reaction to it.
- [14:05]
Grace Hilzen
I feel that other runners also may have struggled with or. And I have struggled with is the number game. And I think, like, because the numbers are so, like, heavy, especially as a performance driven athlete, you know, you see your time goals, the PRs, and I think even the VO2 max number itself kind of puts you in a ranking, like almost like a status. And I think originally that kind of got to me. That really did affect me mentally more than it should have. I would say say that the numbers do not define you. That status is not a reflection of who you are as a person. And this doesn't apply to runners. Like, I mean, it applies to anyone and everyone. And so I just want to emphasize that it's not, you know, it does not define you.
- [14:54]
Trace Dominguez
Dr. Maynard, what's your reaction to what Grace is sharing here? It kind of feels like she's getting to the heart of what you were saying earlier.
- [15:00]
Dr. Robert Maynard
I see that. And we could talk about the context of the particular VO2 maximum and people who are athletes who overly emphasize this particular number. You can also think about it just in general, that there are so many things, whether it's academics or athletic performance, where you get that single number. And you're right to be concerned because people are looking at it. And so it's valuable because you care about their opinion. But you deep down know that I'm not one metric, I'm not one number, and I shouldn't do this, but, boy, it's human tendency. And so I just think this is a classic example of human psychology on display.
- [15:41]
Trace Dominguez
Expanding a little on the human psychology piece of this. Are there instances where a person could, say, misinterpret the score or apply it to something that maybe it doesn't quite fit?
- [15:51]
Dr. Robert Maynard
I think people might falsely ascribe to the test how well they're going to do in a particular athletic event. People compare themselves to other people with this one metric, and they're bothered that their VO2 Max might be a little bit better than someone else, someone else's, yet they're performing better on a physical feat or a task or athletic endeavor. And remember that, you know, the person who crosses the finish line first, it may or may not be the person with the best VO2 max. So I think that's maybe a thing that I would caution against assuming that it's the sole predictor of athletic performance.
- [16:28]
Trace Dominguez
People love to have this kind of quantitative data about their health or their athleticism. And it's an easy note number to be like, oh, what's your max score? Oh, what's your max score? And then you can compare them. But because like you said, there's so many variables, are they really directly comparable between people?
- [16:47]
Dr. Robert Maynard
Well, some of that direct comparison from one person to another is going to be related to the limitations of the fidelity of the measurement. Right. So when we're using, say, like a wearable technology to generate that VO2 max that you're comparing to someone else, what's going to be the accuracy of that tool? What's going to be the tool to tool comparison? You know, wearable technology tends to underestimate VO2max by about 0.1 milligram of oxygen per kilogram per minute. So, you know, on average, for an average weight person, you're going to kind of be about 5ish lower on your VO2 max.
- [17:22]
Trace Dominguez
All of our guests mentioned wearing a watch to keep an eye on their VO2 max. And here's something Danny shared with us that I would love for you to respond to. Dr. Maynard, I was really curious to
- [17:33]
Danny
find out what my actual VO2 max score was, because the watch would say one number, and I knew that Garmin's algorithm is based off of your run pace or your power on the bike relative to what heart rate you were at. And that's, of course, an estimation.
- [17:51]
Trace Dominguez
So what's your reaction to that, Dr. Maynard?
- [17:53]
Dr. Robert Maynard
Your wearable technology is going to have fidelity issues. It's not going to be perfect each time. So let's not get too wrapped up in a particular number. Let's look at this with more than just one or two pieces of data. Let's get a sample size over a longer period of time and then put it in context. You know, just because that watch is telling you that I'm 5% less on my VO2 max, and yet I feel wonderful, you know, going out there, hitting my morning runs. I'm, I'm hitting all my targets, I'm, I'm doing well with my times. Lose the perseverance on this number, you know, use it for what it's worth. Let's not get too overly anxious about one particular variable.
- [18:30]
Trace Dominguez
This feels like a good moment to zoom out and talk about how VO2 max is actually measured, because not all tests are created equal. As Dr. Maynard mentioned, they're not even measuring the same thing. Most smartwatches estimate your VO2 max using data like heart rate, pace, and GPS. Smart rings use a similar approach, although with smaller sensors, their estimates can be less precise. Then there's the lab test, the one with the awkward face mask that Grace, Danny and Brandon experienced. Instead of estimating, it directly measures gas exchange, how much oxygen you are literally taking in and how much carbon dioxide you are breathing out along with your heart rate to confirm that you are truly at max effort. So while wearables can give you an estimate, the treadmill and mask test is measuring your body's direct performance. Which raises the real question, when is a smartwatch good enough? And when does a full test actually matter? Here's how Dr. Maynard thinks about it.
- [19:30]
Dr. Robert Maynard
The most common circumstance where you're going to use a VO2 max, a formal VO2 max. And this involves the complex use of a metabolic cart and all the equipment and having a person who's highly trained administer the exam. This is best in medical settings for medical determination of treatment plans. And so a classic one would be for people who have heart failure and they're contemplating the need for heart transplant. Another strong indication for using this in a formal way would be people who are having unexplained shortness of breath. If someone is a weakened warrior type athlete who's just trying to get like, hey, where am I? Compared to other people undergoing a full Formal cardiopulmonary fitness examination is expensive, not necessarily easy to do. It would probably be overkill in that particular situation because you're going to be wanting to be able to track where your performance is going. And it's just not super easy to repeat these on a regular basis in a cost effective manner. So this person might agree upon using a wearable technology to kind of get maybe directionally which way they're going with their fitness and use that tool on a more routine basis and be very understanding that the tool is not perfect and that they shouldn't get so hung up on a particular number. It'd be more interested in how they're doing directionally with their training plan and how they're moving at their other health variables and maybe how this could, you know, guide them to a healthier position.
- [20:50]
Trace Dominguez
Does it reflect other healthy behaviors as well? Like if I change my diet, is my VO2 max going to change also?
- [20:56]
Dr. Robert Maynard
It could, you know, is the short answer. Say your diet modification generates a weight loss. You will have a higher oxygen utilization per. Per weight, right? So obesity is, in the equations, is going to drive down your VO2 max. So in a way, whether your exercise pattern that you're doing is generating effective weight loss, it's building lean muscle mass, which is going to increase your VO2 max. You might get adaptation of the muscle because you're exercising more.
- [21:24]
Trace Dominguez
Right.
- [21:25]
Dr. Robert Maynard
That's going to change your musculature, tissue level, oxygenation extraction. So, yeah, all these variables are tied into an overall number and that number will likely get better as, you know, work upon each of these individual metrics in your health.
- [21:40]
Trace Dominguez
Your VO2 max score is a strong predictor for heart failure, coronary artery disease and other cardiovascular disease, and it's also a good predictor of your longevity potential. VO2 max testing has been used in clinical settings for over half a century. But Dr. Maynard says all that positive evidence doesn't mean that everyone needs to get tested regularly. In fact, there are some people who shouldn't test and everyone should first consult their physician before signing up for a VO2 max test, just to be on the safe side. Here's Dr. Maynard again.
- [22:11]
Dr. Robert Maynard
I think for people who have decent cardiopulmonary backgrounds, there's no ongoing medical problems. There's not a strong risk associated with doing a test. It's exercise for people who have not had like an assessment of their health and they might be a little bit older with some under recognized cardiac conditions, and you decide that you want to start doing a VO2 max. This is a maximum effort test. And just like if we were giving an exercise prescription to someone who hasn't had any training recently, we wouldn't say, hey, let's go full tilt. You know, we would say, let's take a second. Let's maybe if, if you're old enough or have enough risk factors, you might even say, let's look at some cardiac testing prior to doing a more vigorous exercise plan before incorporating these plans. So in that way, it could be unsafe for people who are not acclimated to. To exercise, who might have under recognized cardiac conditions otherwise. For the folks who are younger without any established problems or risk factors for cardiac problems, you know, it's a safe test.
- [23:13]
Trace Dominguez
Yeah, I get what you mean. You're probably not going to be like, all right, grandma, let's go run some hills today.
- [23:17]
Dr. Robert Maynard
You know, like, yeah, I mean, it's your max effort, whether it's, you know, like a single rep max or whether you're out there just trying to really hit that really high level. Peak cardiac exercise. No, a VO2 max is when you're at that maximum level and you're sustaining it, and it's actually hard to get there. And that's where the real test administered by people who've been doing this for a while, they are good at counseling people up to get that high level of activity. It's not easy to do. And it's where experience centers add value.
- [23:45]
Trace Dominguez
Yeah. So how does the average patient react with facing this kind of test? Right. Because it can be intimidating to show up and have a mask put on you and say, like, okay, we're going to run on a treadmill and you're going to have to push as hard as you can. And how does the average person react to that?
- [24:02]
Dr. Robert Maynard
I mean, it really depends on the person. Right. I mean, some people are going to look at this like, let's go, and they're excited to see where they are. They're probably someone who's been experienced with athletics for a lot of time and they're interested in doing this or it's not their first rodeo. For someone who hasn't had any real training experience or maybe athletic performance experience, or they're not used to high intensity athletics. I mean, this is daunting. This is a big deal. And there's lots of anxiety surrounding its administration, it really depends a lot on who's coming to the table or the treadmill, I should say.
- [24:36]
Trace Dominguez
So if somebody wants to improve their VO2 max number, what kind of training would people recommend? Right.
- [24:42]
Dr. Robert Maynard
Right. So now we're again, we're talking about people who are not really looking at this test for medical reasons, of clinical treatment plans, looking at how we're using this test to maybe tweak their performance. It's going to be training volume and training intensity. Those are the primary drivers of how we adapt. Right. So training load. There's studies that look at people who've got training exposure, say two to four times a week versus four to six times a week. And we know that training exposure is going to help people adapt. So getting someone up to an appropriate training volume would be a recommendation. And then training intensity, you know, high intensity interval training is particularly helpful in a muscle adapting to exercise. And then because the muscle's adapting to exercise and we're improving our ability to get good cardiac output, then you know your numbers are going to go up.
- [25:27]
Trace Dominguez
Would you say it's like a meaningful indicator for overall health or is it more targeted?
- [25:34]
Dr. Robert Maynard
It's a wonderful overall indicator of health. It's one of the more validated techniques to assess health and wellness. We in medicine use various techniques to validate procedures. We use statistics to decide which variables influence the outcomes the most or most correlated with it. And when we look at things that are important, even like important things like blood pressure and cholesterol status and all these other very commonly used health metrics, VO2 max comes out on top as one of the best predictors of longevity and outcome. If we were to compare the people with the highest VO2 max compared to the lowest VO2 max quartiles, there can be a life difference of five years. So it's a very important marker. Whoa.
- [26:16]
Trace Dominguez
Why is it so important? What is it telling us that helps us with longevity and things?
- [26:22]
Dr. Robert Maynard
I think it's because the test incorporates so many different components of our body's health systems. It incorporates the cardiac function. So one of the important variables inside how people do is cardiac output. You know, the, the ability of the heart to squeeze blood through our bodies. And so since that's an important part of our health and wellness, this test encapsulates that it's going to be an important marker. Look at the other elements like the pulmonary status, whether our lungs can exchange gases appropriately. Some people have health conditions in their lungs, say chronic exposure to toxins, whether there's emphysema, COPD. So their respiratory fitness is needed to have better VO2 maxes. They need to exchange the gases from the. So if you have a health limiting condition in the pulmonary situation, that's going to be reflected on your VO2 max. And just as your cardiac status would be potentially impaired by, say, heart disease or valvular heart disease or hypertensive heart disease, so now we got the cardiac system, we have a pulmonary system, and then we have a reflection of the. Then finally, for the VO2 Max, I would say that it's how well the muscles use oxygen. So here, if you have more musculature and that musculature is conditioned to be more efficient at gas exchange, that's reflected by a better VO2 max. I think it's really, it's an all around measurement that incorporates many important health variables. And I think because those things stovepipe up and give you that final number, it ends up being a very predictive test. A predictive number.
- [27:51]
Trace Dominguez
Wow. Okay, so at its core, VO2 max is a comprehensive measure that reflects multiple key aspects of your overall health and fitness, which sounds like a pretty important number. So maybe now you're wondering how our guests scored on their VO2 max tests. I know. Drumroll for context, males who score over 55 fall in excellent. Average is 35 to 44. For healthy women, an excellent score is 49 or above and average is 31 to 37. Keep in mind, VO2 max naturally declines with age. So a good score at age 60 looks different than 25. And endurance athletes like runners or cyclists. Cyclists, they can often exceed these ranges. Elite athletes can reach 70 or 90 plus. Norwegian triathlete and Olympic gold medalist Christian Blumenfeld recorded the highest known VO2 Max in early 2026 with a lab tested score that broke the 100 mark for the first time at 101.2. He's considered the greatest triathlete in the modern age. Danny competed against him in a recent Ironman competition. How'd you do, Dan?
- [28:54]
Danny
Danny, Christian Blumenfelt was in the race. He won. It was honestly a lot of fun.
- [28:59]
Trace Dominguez
Okay, so here it goes. How did our guests score in their VO2 Max tests? Brandon? Our normal average dad, My actual numbers were 45.
- [29:10]
Brandon Osborne
So I was like, wow, that's crazy. I mean, and being like a VO2 max of 45 at my age was like, there was like good and then excellent. I was like, right on that line of the y and X axis of being right on the excellent lines. I'm like, well, let's get better.
- [29:23]
Trace Dominguez
And Grace, our multi marathon runner, the
- [29:26]
Grace Hilzen
VO2 max that I had, so it's almost a year ago, was 62. And apparently that number falls within, like the superior elite range. So it was a good score. A really good score.
- [29:39]
Trace Dominguez
And Danny, our triathlete, the big reveal.
- [29:43]
Danny
So I scored 80.2 on my VO2 max was a lot higher than I expected. In that moment, I kind of felt validated for all of the hard work that I had put in in the preceding months, especially in trying to get myself back into shape. So all the, all of the training volume, all of the healthy decisions that I made when it came to diet, when it came to sleep, I think all of that kind of set in and it was a very, very gratifying feeling, I'd say.
- [30:12]
Trace Dominguez
But I think I want to give Dr. Maynard the last word.
- [30:15]
Dr. Robert Maynard
Don't put that pressure on yourself. Understand that your athletic performance is more than a single number. We live in a time period now where there's a lot of information online. There's a lot of influencers that talk a great deal about various things that predict health and wellness, and VO2max is one of them. And they're very right to consider using this as an important test because it is, it's validated, it's been around. There's tons of statistics and data that support its use. But like many other metrics, it has to be contextualized. So I'm encouraged that people are looking at it. I think it's great that they're beginning to understand this long held technology and incorporate it into their predictions and encouraging people maybe to get a little bit healthier by looking at this measurement.
- [31:01]
Trace Dominguez
VO2 max is one of the most reliable ways to measure your overall fitness, whether you're an elite athlete or someone just trying to live their best life. Higher scores are linked to stronger cardiovascular health, health, lower disease risk, and longer lifespan. Knowing your VO2 max can also help you train smarter by tailoring workouts to your actual capacity. That said, you don't need to rush out and book a clinical test. Your smartwatch can help you keep track of your VO2 max just fine. But remember, it's still a good idea to check in with your physician if you're curious about your VO2 max score. So after hearing about it, did we entice you to go run out and get a VO2 max score done or. Or send you running away at the thought of it? Let us know in the comments. We're curious to hear what you have to share. And thanks again to Dr. Maynard for breaking down the science and the technology behind VO2 max scores. And also thanks to Grace, Danny and Brandon for sharing their stories and experiences with us as well. We did it again, y'. All. We got to the bottom of another popular health trend, but there is still more to come. In the next episode, we're going to answer your questions about the many detox trends trends circulating online. If you haven't already, please hit the subscribe or Follow button and join us next time on Health versus Hype with the American Medical Association. For more information on all the topics we're covering, visit amahealthvsushype.org, that's amahealthvshipe.org Health vs. Hype is a production of Ruby Studio from iHeartMedia and the American Medical Association. I'm Trace Dominguez. Our producers are Matt Stillo and Pamela Lawrence. Michael DePoe Wilson is our writer. The show is engineered and features original music by Matthew Ernest Filler. Health versus Hype is intended for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.