vo2 max

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short answer: the maximal amount of oxygen your body can use when beeing stressed maximally. The more the better because then you can produce more energy aerobically.

A spritner with a vo2max of 120 ml/kg/min would even outrun a marathonner with a vo2max of 85.

The marathonner wouldnt be able to compensate that even if he can run a marathonner at 90% of his vo2max and the sprinter only at 75% of his vo2max. But this will never happen anyway this was to show you the importance of vo2max. And why a higher vo2max will give you greater fitness.So theoretically if you where born with a vo2max of 120 ml/kg/minute then you could go out and jog 5 miles twice a week and be the marathon world record breaker.

now the longer storry:

In a test

they put a mask on you then see what you breath in from oxygen + carbon dioxide and they also see what goes out. When you are on the treadmill or the bike they can only see absolute amount so say you start running and the difference between breath in and out oxygen is 1000 ml (say you weigh 75 kilogram then you still have to calcualte your weight with it)

anyway you start running the mill gets harder. At one point carbon usage is as much as oxygen consumage. (before oxygen ruled) thats near anaerobic threshold(not exactly but nearly)

then oxygen keeps going up still though.

but at some point near maximal speed your body's oxygen usage levels of so instead of taking up more oxygen it starts to take less oxygen. That peak is called vo2max. It differs with anyone.

For most fit competitive runners that is somewhere around 4 - 5 litres or calculating in the weight 4500/75= 60 ml/kg/minute. That peak is as much as your body can take up when beeing stressed more it cant take up more. The higher the better your condition because you can burn more energy in that amount of time.Wether it is to run or swim or anything at all.

It is important.If you want ot be a top runner you need to get to a decent level. No way without it. But there is for runners with the same absolute and relative vo2max also a difference in energy consumation at every unning pace. Some runners just use less energy to run 20 km/hour is it because they have a good build, stronger legs,or are trained more at that pace it isnt known. Anyway scientists sayd that it(running pace at that point of highest oxygen uptake) can differ up to 20% for someone with the same vo2max. So some runners using 70 ml/kg/min can beat runners with a vo2max of 84 ml/kg/minute. The difference can get even bigger if it was a different sporter say a runner versus a cyclist. Your body also learns to become more efficient by runnign more. That is why running a lot is important i think.

Now how do we come to that vo2max, what in the body takes care of letting us use so much oxygen a minute.

That will be first the lungs (but normally the lungs have no problem and limitation actually there is an overcapacity here) then that oxygen goes to the heart THE PUMP. Here is the first big limmitation. Either yor heart would need to do a lot of pumps a minute to be fast or eitehr it needs to pump a lot at a time. Preferably the heart would like to pump a lot in one time so it gets older slowly(biology prooves that animals with slow hear beats live longer ing eneral). Just like an engine that turns a heart will one day stop turning. Luckly as we train or heart adapts to that the chambers get bigger so more blood(and oxygen) can go in and out at one push. The more your heart can push the better. That is somthing that is somewhat a talent and somewhat trainable.

Then the blood goes to the muscles they take it up and give out blood that is poor of oxygen. now when we start training the blood doesnt get in our muscles easy. The cappilary density is to small. So in fact when you begin sporting the muscles are also a big limmitation. But after a couple of weeks the walls arounfd the muscle cells have increased. And the muscles will take all oxygen they get to burn it in their mini factory's(the mittochondria). When training that also increases. The more the better. Lots of energy factory's give a higher anaerobic threshold! A bigger heart will give an higher vo2max.

Ive been teached that the heart is limmit number one.

That together with what amount of oxygen the blood itself can carry.But that is something everyone knows of even not knowing the term vo2max. Hematocrit etc...

Also intresting to note is that say when your vo2max increases from say 70 ml/kg/minute to 85.Your lt without training more will also increase at the same % of vo2max it was before.So the distance between vo2max and lt doesnt become bigger.

Second this is something strange but also true. Vo2max doesnt always decrease when weight goes up in well trained persons.

Skiers are supreme examples. This also must somehow be a proof of that muscle cells actually can split up...

Short end of the storry a human is verry adaptable to the demands asked uppon. When training correctly your vo2max will get higher.But there's always that few people hat are abnormal and have that little edge. Wetehr it is slow fast twitch muscle cells,efficiency,hematocrite values,strength,...

We can all hope that we are that top 0.0000001% abnormality.

But relativly few are...

You've got a lot of good information there, but also some inaccuracies and inconsistencies. No offense intended, but I assume English is not your first language. You may want to have one of your EFL friends proofread any future lengthy posts.

Hers some more questions:

can a guy's vo2 go from 71 to 75 in 2 months, measured in the same lab? Lets assume he was reasonably fit on the 1st one and in the next 2 months he upped his mileage.

If a guy weighs say 10 pounds more than an elite runner of the same height as him, would his VO2 be artificially higher than the lighter guy, OR if that guy lost the 5 pounds would his VO2 go up or down,

Thanks!

I mean, lost the 10 pounds

bum p