How we did so well on our aerobic fitness test without running a step.

VO2 Max is the gold-standard measure of aerobic fitness. By definition, VO2 Max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body is capable of using during exercise. The more oxygen you can use, the more energy you can produce aerobically and the better you perform exercise.

Some of the adaptations that occur that increases your VO2 Max include an increase in your blood volume, an increase in the strength of your left ventricle (in your heart), an improvement in the ability of your blood vessels to direct blood to your muscles during exercise, an increase in the number of your capillaries at your muscle, and an increase in the size and number of mitochondria in your muscles.

To do the test, they put a mask over your face to record your oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production while walking/running on a treadmill, riding a bike.

By measuring how much oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide, you find out how many calories you burn at different levels of exercise intensity. Your heart rate is also monitored.

We’d never done this test and decided to find out what it was all about. We performed our test at UNCA on May 31 of 2024.

My score: 41.3 which put me in the “Excellent” category. To give a frame of reference, that score puts me in the “good” category of a male age 30-39. I’m 66.

Maureen’s score: 37.5 which put her in the “Superior” category for her age (60+). In her case, she would fall into the “excellent” category for women aged 20-29.

Not bad, I’d say.

How’d we trained to get such good scores?

We both did 1.5 (some weeks one session, some weeks two) Precision Exercise sessions a week which equates to a total of 15 minutes a week of exercise for five months.

Our N=2 experiment illustrates that a few minutes a week of high intensity strength training improves the cardiovascular system as well, if not better, than any steady state activity like running, cycling, etc.

The UNCA Exercise Physiology Lab is the place to go in Asheville to have your VO2 Max and other testing done. You can call them or email Aubri Rote at arote@umca.edu.

If you’d like to see what this is all about, give us a call at 828-225-6227.