This is an area of hyperbole. Here’s my rant.
A ton of effort has gone into figuring out how to maximize aerobic athletic performance of elite athletes (who are younger than me). —-> which can “sorta” be measured by vo2max (which declines during aging) —-> and low vo2max is associated with sedentary lifestyles and metabolic disease. —> “obviously” increasing vo2max is a good thing.
How maximizing vo2max became the most important thing is hard to understand. I think it’s bull. Have a decent vo2max is a good goal. If it’s low, raise it. If it’s okay, keep it there and focus on other stuff: maintaining speed, strength, balance,
It takes a long time to build the base cardio ability to produce power using fat. This is important because that’s your all day pace. You never run out of fuel (body fat). You never overwhelm your ability to clear lactate and hydrogen ions, so your muscles don’t fail. This is the important part.
You need some HIIT to push the system out of its comfort zone but only a little. What’s too much? You can’t recover in time to do your zone 2 work, your HRV is low, your sleep is poor, etc.
Off the top of my head I’d say:
Vo2max is good because it captures:
- Muscle ability to burn oxygen
- Circulatory system for carrying O2 to mitochondria
- Lung function — diaphragm is a muscle
- CO2 tolerance — higher is better
- Mitochondrial health (function, amount) to burn O2
- Balance of muscle fiber types — want to be strong and durable
Vo2max is bad because it encourages less weight:
- a lower weight for any reason is good until it is bad
- Don’t have muscles you don’t use in the test (upper body and lateral movement muscles for cyclists). What muscles do you need for life vs test?
- A lower bone density means lower weight means higher VO2max. What do you do when you start having fractures? There goes your vo2max efforts.
Even if you eliminate the weight part of the formula, I still don’t think maximizing oxygen utilization is a good goal. Get it to an athletic level and then put your efforts on where you are weak.
It’s the weak link in the chain that matters, not the strongest link.
I do about 5 minutes a week of max (175 bpm) HR work. About an hour of sweetspot (145-150). About 5-6 hours of zone 1 & 2. I also do 3 x 1 hours of weightlifting weekly and I spend 15 min a day on core and mobility.
What’s my vo2max? I’ve never tested it. Maybe I’m wrong but that’s my bet.
