Cam Levins VO2 Max 62. Discuss.

fasdffdasf wrote:

I'm not sure why labs don't report vVO2 max as well as VO2 max. It's just as easy to measure and is a lot more helpful.

For labs at less-funded schools, that's not true. You need high speed treadmills to do vV02 on highly trained athletes.

fasdffdasf wrote:

Also, knowing your own VO2 max is not particularly helpful when comparing yourself to other people, but is extremely helpful in quantifying the body's response to various challenges. Measuring VO2 allows us to quantify the effect of (for example) altitude on performance with more accuracy than a simple time trial.

You're out of your mind... All that matters is how fast you can run, stop with this madness.

vo2 wrote:

I'm not sure why labs don't report vVO2 max as well as VO2 max. It's just as easy to measure and is a lot more helpful.

fasdffdasf wrote:

For labs at less-funded schools, that's not true. You need high speed treadmills to do vV02 on highly trained athletes.

All the times I was tested, they used a combination of incline and velocity. I think he hit it right on the money, that very few places can get treadmills that go to 16+MPH.

vo2 wrote:

suckkkkk wrote:

Perhaps you are a sub 16 guy, but you just aren't running correctly. Maybe your form is very horrible and you are wasting all of your energy. It's very easy for your form to be greatly inefficient.

That's sort of the point. (Though I'm middle of the road, efficiency wise; not exactly flailing about everywhere.) vo2 max alone doesn't mean much. Mine (68) and Levins's (62) mean the same thing: we're better endurance athletes than sedentary people.

The better stat for the two of us, who are the same age with years of running experience? 5k times: his is nearly 3:00 faster!

You can't always judge efficient form by appearance. Invisible things like unneeded muscle activity or muscle tightness can reduce your efficiency. You need to compare those things to people that you share an identical vo2 number with.

tbake wrote:

What genetic wrote:

Where did you hear this? I've never seen clear evidence of a genetic link or limitation

Sure go look at any ex phys textbook or even more simply google vo2 max and genetics and have a good read.

also, though it is true overall your vo2 from a sedentary lifestyle of a few years will increase to a mush more active lifestyle, Im referring to highly trained vo2 where cam was at when he broke 4 in the mile to 16 months later... After you are highly trained, it won't vary too much. I also would love to see cam tested again, and see where his vo2 is at now.

I already did google those words and didn't see any genetic link to vo2 max. Can you link me to specific articles?

I recall reading somewhere that Keith Brantly 's VO2 max was in the upper 80's?

Check out the science of Running website it is pretty good. I have a degree in Kinesiology and the studys I have read have shown that VO2max is not a predictor of performance. In other words High Vo2 does not mean better running.

I think recently Steve Magness posted I really good article on the error of zone training.

Again I highly recommend going to scienceofrunning.com and reading up on that it is really good.

PS LONG LIVE LEVINS THE LEGEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What genetic wrote:

tbake wrote:

Sure go look at any ex phys textbook or even more simply google vo2 max and genetics and have a good read.

also, though it is true overall your vo2 from a sedentary lifestyle of a few years will increase to a mush more active lifestyle, Im referring to highly trained vo2 where cam was at when he broke 4 in the mile to 16 months later... After you are highly trained, it won't vary too much. I also would love to see cam tested again, and see where his vo2 is at now.

I already did google those words and didn't see any genetic link to vo2 max. Can you link me to specific articles?

these are just hits under google.

Decades ago I was a subject in a study for a Masters Thesis at San Diego State, correlating performance in a 10K time trial with various non-invasive (no blood samples collected)parameters.

The subjects ranged in age from 19 - 43 and included both men and women. The requirement was everyone had to have run a sub 40' 10K within the previous 6 months. I do not know everything about the study, but I believe the submitted times ranged from 32' to 38'.

Although I was the oldest one in the study at 43, I had the fastest time in the time trial.However I did not have the highest VO2Max. My VO2Max was measured at ~67 while others had readings as high as 78.

As in the study quoted above, the correlation between VO2Max and time was poor. There was a better correlation with lactate turnpoint and similarly, the best correlation was with running performance.

VO2max values are mainly interesting in a theoretical mathematical discussion.

Jack Daniels found that VO2max measurements were too variable, and created a pseudo measurement called VDOT. VDOT is a pure function of race time and distance -- i.e. running speed is the best predictor of running speed.

The difference between VDOT and VO2max values is expressed as running economy.

Derek Clayton is usually an example of an outlier with extremely good running economy, and the difference between his VO2max and VDOT performance is about 10 points.

A 4:00 mile indicates a VDOT of 76; a 13:18 5K indicates a VDOT of 80; and a 27:27 indicates a VDOT of 81. This means a measured VO2max after the 4:00 mile of less than 66 would be highly unusual, and a measurement today of less than 71 would be equally unusual.

If we only looked at the mile, we might consider the mile is not a purely aerobic event. It might be possible that Cam Levins truly possessed a low "aerobic capacity", but still performed well in the mile due to a strong "anaerobic capacity".

But his recent 5K and 10K times (where "anaerobic" plays a smaller role) suggests an even stronger "aerobic capacity", improved by 5 points. Nevertheless it's still possible that this improvement came from his training in the last couple years.

We would need another accurate VO2max measurement before we can draw any conclusions.

It's velocity at VO2max that counts, not the vo2max figure. Someone with a great lactate threshold and good economy can win a lot of races with a mediocre vo2max reading.

Ex wrestler wrote:

Guy5555 wrote:

After answering a question about VO2 MAX testing, Cam Levins responded by saying that he was tested at 62 after running his first sub 4 minute mile

http://runningmagazine.ca/2012/07/sections/news/live-chat-tuesday-cam-levins-and-mo-ahmed/

It's all about the running economy. His must be very good. I was tested a long time ago back in college and recorded a 72. While I was a decent wrestler I was a very mediocre runner.

This- as I recall Frank Shorter's VO2 was fairly low but he was a very economical runner. Pre was very high and he wasn't very economical ergo Shorter and Pre were close in ability.

tbake wrote:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/anatomyandphysiology/a/VO2_max.htmhttp://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/VO2max.htmlhttp://www.trifuel.com/training/strength-training/vo2-whathttp://www.runningplanet.com/training/vo2max.htmlhttp://www.corerunning.com/vo2-max.htmlhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11210441

these are just hits under google.

None of those articles shows any link to genes and vo2max.

The first few articles don't even say more than "vo2max is based on genetics". They don't back that thought up at all.

The last article at least does some science. But even in that article, the scientists say that only that there MAY be a genetic link to vo2. They say that more research is needed.

This is actually wrong malmo, Bjørn Dæhli had 96 and an 18 year old Norwegian cyclist recently tested 97.5

vo2 max is a joke. For any serious athlete its going to vary widely based on how fresh or sore they are in the test. No serious athlete is going to rest for a few days for a Vo2 test. No one has that time. You guys shouldn't even consider it, instead of believing it tells all this stuff about the training someone should do or the times they will run.

VO2 max is a better predictor of 3k/5k times than shorter or longer distances, but even then it's certainly not definitive.

VO2 max matters more in sports where weight is a factor. World class rowers tend to have very high max absolute oxygen utilisation, but because they tend to be heavier than other athletes they don't have fantastic VO2 max figures.

Here is a documentary about Kenyan runners. The exercise physiologists looked at many things and finally concluded it's all about skinny calves! If you go to 22:15 in the video, they talk about Wilson Kipketer having a very low VO2 max, although they don't mention a number:

http://youtu.be/PTQVHZU4WzE