A young boy joined our Karate Classes in Gurgaon a few months ago. He is a government employee with odd working hours.
He would get blacked out in just five minutes in the first few classes.
Recently, he ran 25 rounds of a cricket field and did an hour of striking class.
In general words, his stamina improved. However, technically, he improved his VO2 Max.
Have you heard this term before without a sound understanding?
1.41 Seconds is all it will take to understand what VO2 max is.
Let's dig in.
Would you prefer to watch it over a video? YouTube it here.
What’s your best 100-meter sprint time?
Or
How many kicks can you do in a minute?
I know, if you have tried these, what comes to mind is getting out of breath, and you are not alone.
The metric that enables us to workout harder and to run faster than ever is VO2 Max.
To make it simple, VO2 Max is a measure of the amount of oxygen we can breathe while exercising.
As we know, oxygen enables the body to convert food into energy.
(or Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), if you need to know.)
Thus, the better the VO2 Max, the more power we can use.
The next time you breathe faster and deeper, recognise you are coming close to your VO2 Max.
Can VO2 Max be improved?
Yes, here are two proven ways to improve our VO2 Max
Pushing ourselves to Higher Intensity Training for 3-4 minutes, followed by the reduced intensity of a few minutes.
Losing body fat without losing lean muscles as we will need lesser energy to move our machine (body).
Is there a Standard VO2 Max?
VO2 Max averages may differ for men and women as per their activity levels
So, Pace up gradually and keep building the stamina (as they say), and now you know what it means.
What is the next complicated word you want us to break down? Shoot in the comment section.
Is VO2max in anyway related to a person's haemoglobin level?