The most important metric that Fitness trackers and smartwatches are not telling you!
You may have seen fitness trackers that track a number of markers like heart rate, steps walked, Spo2, ECG, calories burned, Sleep score, etc. There is one marker which most of the trackers miss. It is the most important marker for a sportsperson. Your VO2 max!
This is because measuring VO2 max is not easy and it requires a Lab. And it still has downfalls. This being the reason most of the fitness wearable brands do not have a VO2 max tracking, which in turn makes a lot of people ignorant about this metric. Let’s be honest, how many knew what BPM, SpO2 was before these fitness wearables started talking about it? If you are an athlete, obviously! and if you are a gym-goer, probably!
Now everyone knows what it is, thanks to wearable tracker brands. This is not sarcasm but an actual compliment to them to make the rest of the world know what it is and the importance of measuring these metrics.
Just one thing that disappoints me is that they failed to highlight the most important metric which is VO2 max. Is this simply because their products cannot measure this?
So now you get the idea of how a brand can influence you into thinking that something is important only because they are capable of doing something about it, makes sense?
What is VO2 max?
VO2 max refers to the maximum amount of oxygen you can utilize during an exercise. This is used to test the aerobic endurance of the athlete before and after a training session. The unit of VO2 max is (mL/Kg/min) which means oxygen consumed in one minute per body weight.
Your VO2 max is the key to understanding and managing your fitness level. For a basic understanding of VO2 max, a low VO2 max score represents poor fitness levels and vice versa. Just like any other physical performance attribute, there is a genetic angle to how efficiently your body would use oxygen. And just like any other physical performance attribute, you can improve your this. VO2 max score is extremely dynamic and it reacts to how you live and train.
VO2 max score is extremely dynamic and it reacts to how you live and train.
This chart shows you the average VO2 max of people of different age groups.
3 main factors that influence your VO2 max are:
Age: By the age of 20 your VO2 max starts peaking and by the age of 65 your VO2 max declines nearly by 30%. Growing older is outside our sphere of influence. There is nothing that you can do about it but to start performing at an early age and take advantage of your Youth.
Gender: Gender is also a huge contributor when it comes to VO2 max. Men tend to have a higher VO2 max value compared to women. The difference is between 18 – 20%. This again is not in your sphere of influence.
Altitude: Staying at different altitudes has shown a significant difference when it comes to VO2 max values. People staying in a higher altitude have shown higher VO2 max values compared to people staying at sea level.
Knowing your VO2 max is absolutely necessary to create training zones and for you to train smartly. As the saying goes 'what you can't measure, you cant grow'
Let me give you the VO2 max of some athletes
Greg Lemond an ex-pro cyclist who won the 1986 Tour de France, 1985 Tour de France, 1990 Tour de France, 1989 Tour de France had a VO2 max of 92.5 ml/kg/min.
Kilian Jornet, the Spanish professional sky runner, trail runner, ski mountaineer and long-distance runner who has a truckload of achievements has a VO2 max of 93 ml/kg/min.
Paula Jane Radcliffe a British long-distance runner, a 3-time winner of the London Marathon, 3-time winner of New York marathon had a VO2 max of 75 ml/kg/min.
She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time and held the Women's World Marathon Record with a time of 2:15:25 for 16 years from 2003 to 2019 when it was broken by Brigid Kosgei. - Wikipedia
Brigid Kosgei is believed to have a higher VO2 max. She was born in Kapsowar in Kenya which is 7500 ft above sea level. This has given her the advantage of living and training at altitude.
The only way to improve your VO2 max is to train at a place where the atmospheric conditions are altered, which is at higher altitudes. Not everyone can keep juggling between high altitude and sea level for sleep and training. This is where Altipeak International comes into play. Altipeak International has been working closely with professional athletes to improve their fitness levels helping them to achieve their goals. In fact, Ireland's Women's hockey team who didn't have any action from the 2010 World Cup had a magnificent come back in the 2018 Women's world cup by training at one of the Altipeak Studios.
To get your own private or commercial set up you can reach out to me kvnivas@altipeakinternational.com
Coming back to the smartwatches and fitness trackers, you now know that measuring your heart rate, calories and steps alone will not help you improve your fitness levels if you are aiming for some world-class performance!
