Who even cares about VO2 Max?

This is a valid question! Until recently, unless you were involved in an endurance sport, you’ve probably never thought or cared about a VO2 Max. Even if I told you that your VO2 Max represents “the maximum amount of oxygen you can uptake and utilize during exercise” you still probably wouldn’t care about it.

But what if I told you that VO2 Max is more correlated with health and longevity than any other metric? What if I told you that, for all the research doctors do, nothing has been found to correlate stronger with length and quality of life than a VO2 Max score? On the low end, there’s nothing more detrimental to your health. Not smoking, not diabetes, not high blood pressure. On the high end, VO2 Max has been suggested to add as much as five extra years to your life. Five years! And what’s better, there’s no limit. The higher you test, the better your body will feel and function. 

Size Matters

Think of it this way—your VO2 Max represents the capacity for your body to consume and utilize oxygen. Everything in your body is fueled by oxygen. The more of it you can breathe in and transfer to energy, the more fuel can be pumped through your body. This is why VO2 Max is often said to measure the “size of your engine.”

On the topic of engines, let’s talk about my very first car, a 1999 Plymouth Neon. Probably one of the ugliest sedans ever designed, made even worse by a dent I put in the hood from slipping on ice and smashing into a telephone pole. The front of the car looked like a butt crack in the middle of two bug-eyed headlights all coated with a sewer-green paint job. The car’s appearance, plus its manual locks, roller windows, and lack of CD player, won it an award in my high school student newspaper’s popular article titled “POS of the Month.” Even still, as a high school sophomore with a driver’s license, I was fond of “Little Nessy” and knew she was my ticket to freedom.

(this looks exactly like my car except missing the butt-crack dent in the hood)

I don’t remember what Nessy’s top speed was, (I know it took 9.41 seconds to get from zero to 40 mph), but let’s be generous and imagine it was 100 mph. Now, imagine driving next to my little Plymouth Neon was a really nice car. A Bugatti, maybe? I know nothing about cars, clearly. No self-respecting car person would be proud of my whip. That Bugatti can easily go over 200 mph. Both these cars get along just fine on a neighborhood road going 25 mph. Even though Little Nessy is only using 25% of its capacity, it’s no big deal, and the Bugatti is humming smoothly and capably. But what happens at higher speeds, like on the freeway?

I can tell you that at any speed over 80 mph Little Nessy started signaling that she might not hold herself together. The steering wheel shook, the engine roared, and the wind coming through the worn down rubber sealings around the windows made it feel like I might as well have been driving a convertible. At 80 mph, that Plymouth Neon is using 80% of its capacity, and it showed. The Bugatti, on the other hand, makes 80 mph feel like a peaceful walk in the park. Even if you push the pedal to 100 mph, you’re still not even at half of the engine’s capacity. It could comfortably cruise at that speed all day.

Are you catching on here? Your engine is your lungs and heart that intake oxygen and pump it through your body. Your normal day-to-day life is like a simple drive through the neighborhood; easy to handle, even if your capacity is low. But what happens when your body needs to go faster—and I’m not just talking about exercise. What happens when you get sick, or when you’re stressed? The change in cardiac output required to support stress and physiological illness is profound, and having more capacity in reserve will help you manage and recover faster. It’s easier for you to keep living like normal if you only need to use 50% of your capacity as opposed to 80%. 

Have you ever met people who never seem to get sick? Or even when they do, they never seem to get it as bad as everyone else? I bet you that nine times out of ten those people have a high cardiorespiratory fitness level. The size of your engine matters. 

Why doesn’t everyone do it?

So if VO2 Max is so important, why doesn’t everyone get it tested? Well, along with many of the top health and fitness experts like Peter Attia, Andrew Huberman, Rhonda Patrick, and others, I believe everyone should.

[VO2 Max] is a test that I believe every human being, athlete and non-athlete should have done, because everybody needs to know their number and everybody needs to know where they stack up. It is one of the most important, if not the most important modifiable metric we have to speak to both the length and quality of life.

Whether you smoke or don’t smoke, whether you have diabetes or don’t, whether you have end-stage kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension—all of those play an important role in predicting the length of your life, but not as much as having a very high VO2 Max. This rises against every other biomarker we have to predict long life. ” 

—Peter Attia, The Drive Podcast Episode #294

But until recently, testing hasn’t been easy for the average person. Most devices capable of measuring an accurate VO2 Max have only been found in hospitals or universities. They’re expensive, clunky, have lots of tubes and wires, and have to be wheeled around on a cart.

Enter the VO2 Master, the world’s first portable VO2 analyzer! Developed alongside the world’s top endurance athletes (who test themselves constantly), the VO2 Master gets rid of the cords, tubes, and clunky computer cart (it’s still expensive). It works with just a simple, lightweight mask and a bluetooth connection. 

Rather than having to break your normal workout routine and travel to a stuffy old lab you can now have the test come to wherever you like to workout, be it a treadmill, bike trainer, rower, or Peloton (you’ll just need to move off all the clothes you’ve been draping over it). You could also choose a less conventional test like lifting weights, rucking, or throwing on SWAT gear and running up some stairs. Up to you!

Ok, but does it hurt?

Now that we’ve eliminated “I don’t know where to test” from your list of bad excuses for not knowing your VO2 Max, you might be wondering if the test is painful. The short answer is no, but also maybe.

All you have to do to reach your VO2 Max is strap on a mask and do a workout where you gradually build up intensity to the point that you can’t anymore. Easy, right? The whole workout usually lasts less than 12 minutes. No needles or blood work, no urine samples, no sitting in a chamber while some alien-like medical device scans you. You get to move and be active! …at an intensity that might be a little uncomfortable towards the end.

What’s with the mask, can’t my watch do it?

Because VO2 Max is such an important health indicator, every respectable wearable fitness says they calculate it for you. The devices use the Cooper Test formula to estimate your max based on the distance you travel in a certain time frame. Depending on your pacing strategy and motivation, the Cooper Test will likely end up within 5-10% of your true VO2 Max. While relative proximity is enough for most people, it’s like visiting your friend’s house for the first time. At first, they tell you the city or neighborhood they live in. The exact location doesn’t matter yet because you’re not even close. But as you start to travel, you need more exact details. Showing up in the right neighborhood, or even on the right street doesn’t get you to the destination you want. You need a specific address. VO2 max is the same. If you’re just getting started, the exact number doesn’t matter. But as you spend more time training and get closer to a higher number, you want specificity. 

The other thing about a VO2 Max score with an analyzer—it can’t be gamed. It doesn’t matter if you test on a day you’re not feeling at your best, the test is motivation independent. Your top end speed or power might change, but as long as you hit maximum intensity, the test results are sound. That’s the reason VO2 Max is such a good predictor of lifespan. It’s an exceptional integrator of the total work your body does. It’s not a cheap biomarker you can change instantly with supplements or injections, it’s a direct reflection of your current capacity. 

Mobile testing brought to you

I believe in making better health data available to everyone at attainable prices. Even though VO2 Master analyzers have been around for a few years, they’re still largely found only at universities and hospitals, making it difficult for people to find and visit for a test. That’s why VO2 Testing comes to you. When you schedule a test we reach out to chat through logistics, then we bring the equipment and protocols to where you want to train. We make it so easy you don’t have an excuse for not getting what could be one of the most important reports of your life. 

Stay healthy,

-Stephen