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VO2max measures the efficiency with which the body uses oxygen during exercise, and is an indicator of fitness.
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Research on VO2max is generally relative to men, causing potential misunderstandings about health and performance, affecting athletic training and longevity.
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To improve VO2max, regular aerobic training, interval training, and monitoring body composition to reduce its decline is essential.
Have youever heard of VO2max?
VO2max represents the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise.
It is a crucial indicator of your fitness and, in the long run, your overall health.
In fact, its value is indicative of both your fitness status and the performance you can aspire to, because it measures how efficiently your body uses the oxygen it has available to convert it into energy.
To date, however, most research focuses on men and does not take into account the differences that may exist between the sexes.
The truth is that women’s VO2max is often underestimated, and this gap in research could have significant consequences for understanding women’s health.
Is it important to know whether there are differences?
If much of the health recommendations are based on studies of men, women may be following advice that does not take into account their specific physiological needs.
The most obvious consequence could be less effective athletic training or even basic misunderstandings about what is “normal” for the female body.
Using the motor metaphor we often employ, it would be like talking about diesel or gasoline engines as if they were the same thing.
And that’s not all: since VO2max is closely related to longevity, neglecting these differences could affect how long-term health maintenance is approached.
What differences are there?
Research published in August 2024 and conducted by the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil sought to fill this gap.
The scholars analyzed the VO2max of 147 women, including 85 runners and 62 sedentary women ranging in age from 20 to 70 years, with the aim of exploring specific differences between women under and over 50 years old.
The scholars evaluated 3 different types of VO2max:
- Absolute VO2max: measures the volume of oxygen consumed per minute, measured in liters/min.
- Relative VO2max (VO2max/BM): is expressed relative to body weight, and is measured in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min).
This formulation is particularly useful for comparing individuals of different sizes. - VO2max relative to lean mass (VO2max/LM): is an even more specific measure that takes into account only muscle mass, thus excluding body fat. Why is it important? Because, for the same weight, a body with more developed muscle mass is able to consume oxygen more efficiently than a body of the same weight but with more fat mass.
In fact, fat mass does not consume oxygen and therefore does not affect VO2max.
The study found that, as expected, female runners had higher VO2max than their sedentary colleagues.
Also, predictably, younger participants showed a higher VO2max than older ones.
But what emerged of most interest involved other specific differences.
How VO2max worsens with age
Previous research on men had suggested that the age-related decline in VO2max was related to a decline in the efficiency of the cardiovascular system.
In contrast, this study revealed that for women, the decline is attributable equally to the heart and circulatory system but also to peripheral systems, that is, how oxygen is used in the muscles.
This finding could be linked to higher levels of intramuscular adipose tissue in women, which tends to increase with age and could adversely affect muscle efficiency.
V02max drops for everyone
Another finding of the study is that although and predictably female runners show a higher VO2max in general, this does not prevent them from experiencing a more pronounced decline with age than those who do not train.
While this news might bring down the motivation of those who apply themselves to sports, it should be read in another way, and that is as a call to always maintain a constant level of training to counteract this natural decline.
Your VO2max
How to succeed in maintaining or improving your V02max?
You can apply yourself by following these tips:
- Practicing regular aerobic training: that is, applying yourself to running, cycling and swimming, activities perfect for increasing VO2max.
- Doing interval training: this type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is particularly effective in rapidly improving VO2max.
- Be consistent: even if you are already fit, it is essential to continue exercising regularly to avoid the decline associated with age.
- Check your body composition: reducing body fat and maintaining lean muscle mass can help you maximize your VO2max.
As mentioned in the previous lines, fat accumulation is an impediment to using oxygen to produce energy, resulting in low V02max values.
(Via Outside)