Is VO2 max a predictor of longevity?

What is VO2 Max

Put simply, your VO2 max is a metric that reflects the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can use during intense physical exercise. VO2 max is an accurate measure of cardiorespiratory fitness, and while VO2 max measures can be related to human performance, this metric has also been shown to be an independent predictor of longevity. Measuring VO2 max is considered the gold standard when it comes to measuring cardiovascular fitness.

The higher your VO2 max, the more oxygen you can use for physical exercise, particularly endurance exercise like running. Oxygen is an important fuel source for your muscles. Your body uses oxygen to produce energy for muscle contractions and to send blood to working muscles. The more oxygen your body consumes, the more blood will flow to your muscles and the more contractions your muscles will have, leading to faster running times and overall better cardiovascular fitness.

Does VO2 max predict longevity?

Studies show that VO2 max may be a predictor of longevity, meaning the higher your VO2 max, the longer you're likely to live. VO2 max declines with age and by the age of around 25 generally, your VO2 max can decline by around 10% every 10 years. The good news is there are ways to improve your VO2 max through exercise.

How to increase your VO2 max

Challenge yourself

While research highlights that light exercise can increase your VO2 Max, when you challenge yourself aerobically you’re more likely to see more prominent improvements to your VO2 max metric. But interestingly, as your body gets fitter and your capacity to endure long periods of physical exercise increases, it becomes harder to increase your VO2 max capacity. This only means that challenging yourself by mixing up the duration and intensity of your workouts can help you break through to a higher VO2 max level.

Interval training

High intensity interval training (HIIT) involves short bursts of intense exercise followed by a short window of rest and recovery. You may be wondering how HIIT can provoke such profound health benefits by switching between movement and rest for short periods, but if you’re performing HIIT correctly—you will need the rest. In fact, despite how short these workouts can be (the most effective amount of time to perform a HIIT workout should be no longer than 30 minutes, ideally around 15), HIIT workouts or interval training has been shown to provide twice the number of benefits when compared to moderate-intensity workouts. How does this relate to VO2 max? During HIIT workouts, the physical intensity is at a level that encourages your body to reach its maximum aerobic capacity (aka your VO2 max). By spending time training at your VO2 max, the body adapts its threshold and increases VO2 max over time.

What HIIT looks like:

The American College of Sports Medicine defines HIIT as a style of training that utilizes short, intense work periods performed between 80-95% of a person’s maximum heart rate. Traditional HIIT intervals are structured to be between 3-5 minutes of intense exercise (the shorter the interval, the higher the intensity), followed by 2-4 minutes of rest/active recovery performed at 40-50% of your max heart rate.

Tabata is a form of interval training that consists of 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated 8 times for a total of 4 minutes. In the famous 1996 Tabata study, participants who performed the protocol on an exercycle for 4 minutes, five times a week improved their VO2 max by 15% after 6 weeks. In comparison, participants who exercise at a moderate intensity five times a week only improved their Vo2 max by 10%.

How does it work? The idea is that reaching VO2 max takes at least two minutes per interval. Intervals of 3-5 minutes maximize your time at VO2 max before fatigue or poor form set in, and shorter rest periods help maintain a high VO2 level between intervals.

What happens when you combine HIIT training with MitoQ

HIIT has been shown to improve mitochondrial function, and researchers found that the combination of MitoQ and HIIT may improve athletic performance.

In a clinical study run by the University of Auckland in New Zealand, researchers found that after a training period of three weeks of HIIT exercise, participants that received Mitoquinol (20mg) showed higher increases in peak power (measured by a VO2 peak test and a cycling time trial) compared to those in the placebo group. The researchers of the study theorize that this power increase is linked to the higher levels of PGC1α in muscles - which is also involved in producing new mitochondria.

An alternative theory is that MitoquinolQ enhances blood delivery in muscles, and/or that Mitoquinol Q directly enhances energy production within the mitochondria, resulting in increased power output and improved time to exhaustion. Overall, the researchers concluded that the results with MitoQ® Mitoquinol were better than those that could be expected from regular antioxidants.

Endurance training

While short bursts of intense exercise like the ones performed in HIIT have been shown to be effective in improving VO2 max, running longer distances at a moderate-to-easy pace can provide a similar result. Endurance training involves long distance, lower-to-moderate intensity exercise where your heart rate is maintained at 60–70% of your maximum for a duration of 45-90 minutes.

Exercising at this lower intensity has been shown to increase mitochondrial function by training mitochondria to produce energy efficiently by utilizing fatty acids, rather than glucose. This metabolic flexibility is extremely beneficial for our health, and it’s a sign that mitochondria are functioning optimally. Also known as Zone 2 training, this type of exercise has been shown to support longevity by increasing VO2 max and clearing out old, declining mitochondria via mitophagy.

The bottom line

The best way to maximize your aerobic capacity and improve your VO2 max is to challenge your performance and combine large amounts of low-intensity endurance training with small amounts of high-intensity interval training performed at or near VO2 max.