Fitness

Why Your VO2 Max Score is Better than Walking 10,000 Steps per Day

The ability of your body to supply oxygen to muscles during intense activity is a key indicator of health and fitness. To test your aerobic or cardiovascular fitness the VO2 max test is administered to establish how well oxygen is absorbed during intense activity. While men commonly have higher VO2max score than women, factors like age, body composition and genetics impacts on a person’s score.

How to calculate your VO2 max

  • Record your heart rate immediately after an intense workout. Then, use HRmax = 205.8 – (0.685 x age) formula to determine your heart rate max.
  • Use VO2 max= 15.3 x HRmax/HRrest) equation to calculate your VO2 max
  • When completely relaxed, count the heartbeats in an interval of 10 seconds, then multiply the outcome by six.

Low VO2 max score indicates poor fitness, while high VO2 max scores represent greater performance capacity. However, with a suitable exercise program, a lower value will improve over time. Since the test is a measure of a person’s aerobic endurance, activities like weight lifting can help raise the score. Normal numbers for VO2 is between 30 and 60.

10,000 steps a day has no scientific validation, it is challenging to be carried out every day, and there is no mention of difficulty level, or intensity, or breathing, or heart rate or anything that confirms whether exercise is useful to you from a cardiovascular perspective.

VO2 max is the best indicator of aerobic performance as opposed to 10,000 steps per day. It is considered by most people to be the gold standard of human performance.

While VO2 score is vital for an individual’s wellness and health, it can be more useful when it’s improved together with nutrition habits as well as other fitness exercises, like the weight lifting, that gives you a healthy living habit.

Conclusion

The best way to determine your aerobic fitness is by measuring your VO2 max. The VO2 max score is the maximum capacity of your body to carry oxygen to muscles during an intense exercise. Your VO2 score is the key to understanding, seeing and, more significantly managing your personal fitness level.

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