Website design By BotEap.comIn the world of endurance, it seems like you can’t talk about fitness without talking about VO2 max. Ask any endurance athlete and you’ll hear epic stories with names like Indurain, LeMond and Armstrong. However, many of you may be wondering what exactly is VO2 max. 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 textbook Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, VO2 max 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. It has been found that the VO2 max. it correlates well with an individual’s degree of fitness and has been accepted as an index of total body fitness. Numerous studies show that you can increase your VO2 max by exercising at an intensity that raises your heart rate to 65-85% of your maximum, for at least 20 minutes, three to five times per week. The estimated mean VO2 max value for male athletes is approximately 3.5 litres/minute and for female athletes it is approximately 2.7 litres/minute.

Website design By BotEap.comNow 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 reason 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?

Website design By BotEap.comAlthough VO2 max is an important component of any endurance program, I have good news and bad news for those of us who may not have picked the right parents! The bad news is that, according to exercise physiologist Neal Henderson, Coordinator of Sports Science at the Boulder Sports Medicine Center in Colorado, VO2 is about 80% genetic. Other estimates put this number between 30 and 60%. Whatever the number, one thing is certain; there is a genetic ceiling for VO2. The good news is that VO2 can be trained. Unfortunately, if Neal Henderson’s 80% estimate is correct and your VO2 is, say, 45 ml/kg-/min (average), your best may only be 52 ml/kg-/min after a 20% gain (52 mL/kg-/min is considered good or just above average).

Website design By BotEap.comTo put this in perspective, Lance Armstrong clocked in at around 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 I’m not making this up. Thoroughbreds have a VO2max of around 180 ml/kg/min, and Siberian dogs in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have VO2 values ​​of up to 240 ml/kg/min. To add even more perspective, Olympic marathon winners and elite runners like Jeff Galloway, Alberto Salazar, and Frank Shorter clock in in their 70s and 70s (see Table 2 for a list of athletes and their respective VO2).

Website design By BotEap.comThe good news is that, like the runners mentioned above, while it may be down to your genetic potential, there are many factors other than VO2 max that can influence your endurance performance success as well. Improving efficiency and economy of movement, as well as raising your anaerobic threshold (LT), can lead to performance improvements in the absence of increases in VO2. All three of these components can be addressed through a functional strength training program. Now let’s take a closer look at each of these components.

Website design By BotEap.comMoving 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 getting an invite to the big dance, but getting an invite to the dance doesn’t guarantee you’ll 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 attracted 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 get rid of. LT training will result in a decrease in lactate production at any given exercise intensity. Untrained people typically reach LT at about 60% VO2max. This means that even if my VO2 is 70ml/kg/min, which is elite level, I can only use 60%, or 42ml/kg/min (average), before my LT shuts me down. However, with training, the LT can increase from 60% to over 70% or even higher. Elite endurance athletes typically have a LT equal to or greater than 80% of VO2 max. While most endurance athletes typically train LT in the pool, on a bike, or while running, we have several gym protocols specifically designed to improve LT. Also, because movement specificity is very important when training LT, these protocols address both the lower and upper body (see Table 1).

Website design By BotEap.comLast 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 movement speed, while efficiency is measured as mechanical power. 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 ride. Was it easier to pull forward or sit? Sit 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 each joint in a given movement as an opportunity to lose energy. The more joints involved in a movement, the more chance there is to lose energy; the more stable the junction, the less power is lost; the less power that leaks, the greater the efficiency in a certain activity.

Website design By BotEap.comSo how do these concepts apply to strength training? I am often asked to watch someone run on the treadmill and watch their gait. Instead, I ask them to perform 10 front reaches on one leg. If this is hard, that tells me that your hips aren’t as stable as they should be and your gait can’t be as good as it should be. The same goes for the shoulder joint. If you can’t handle a set of stabilization pushups with good form, then your swimming stroke isn’t as efficient and economical as it could be.

Website design By BotEap.comNow for all the skeptics out there, all I ask is that you give it a try. Maybe before you next go to test your VO2 (not fun by any means), you could first try taking a look at your previous reaches or t-stab pushups or the protocol listed in Table 1. These alternatives won’t They are not meant to point out your flaws or embarrassments, but rather to empower you. Instead of complaining about genetics (although, trust me, I still do), test your limits in one of the ways mentioned above. I assure you that you will find what my most successful clients have found; that through a comprehensive program of functional strength training, economy, efficiency, and lactate threshold can be improved, making VO2 max less important.

Website design By BotEap.comTable 1
super legacy
exercise rehearsal notes
Speed ​​Squats 20 20 repetitions in less than 20 seconds in parallel
Lunges 20 (10 per side) Alternate legs, knee off the ground
Box shuffle/Split jump 20 (10 per side) Use 9″ snare
Squat Jumps 10 Parallel Squats with no rest between jumps
Complete the entire circuit without resting in less than 1:30

Website design By BotEap.comTable 2
VO2 Athlete Sport
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 runner
84.0 Lance Armstrong Professional Cyclist
82.0 Kip Keino 1500 Olympic champion
81.1 Craig Virgin World Cross Country Champion x2
81.0 Jim Ryun US miler starting WR
80.1 Steve Scott US 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 marathon
77.0 Sebastian Coe 1500 miles WR
76.0 Alberto Salazar 2:08:51 marathoner
74.4 Johnny Halberstadt 2:11:44 marathon runner
73.3 Bruce Fordyce Ultramarathoner
73.0 Jeff Galloway Expert Runner
73.0 Buddy Edelen 2:14:28 marathon world record (1963)
72.3 Peter Snell Olympic champion
71.3 Frank Shorter US Olympic Marathon Winner
71.2 Ingrid Kristiansen Former marathon world record holder
70.3 Willie Mtolo 2:08:15 marathon runner
67.2 Marathon runner Rosa Mota