Can you change your VO2 max?

For the last two weeks I have been in South Australia on holidays. While over there the state was a buzz because Lance Armstrong was in Adeliade for the tour down under. Everywhere we looked elite and recreational cyclists seemed to have taken over the streets and this was highlighted when the public where invited to join Lance on a community ride around Glenelg (he sent the invitation out through twitter). A staggering 7000 people joined him!

This got me thinking about information I had previously heard about Lance being super human producing extermly low lacate levels (hence not fatiguing as quickly) and having a high VO2 max.

It is reported that his VO2 max is 85 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. An average untrained person has a VO2 max of 45 and with training can get it to 60. Exercise physiologists have estimated that an untrained Lance Armstrong would have a VO2 max of 60, hence an average person trained level is his untrained.

So how do you change your Vo2 max? Training volume and training intensity are the key factors. Research has shown the biggest increases can be found in sedendary individuals as they have the most room to improve. Such cases have demonstrated an increase as high as 20%.

Factors other than genetics that influnce VO2 max are age (decrease 30% by the age of 60), gender (female valuse are normally 20% lower than males) and altitude. Altitude is interesting. As there is less oxygen at higher altitudes an athlete will generally have a 5% decrease in VO2 max with a 5000 feet gain in altitude. This is why many athletes undertake altitude training prior to competition.

Vo2 max alone will not predict the winner of an endurance event but most elite althletes will have a VO2 max over 60.

We offer cardiopulmonary testing to community members who are interested in having these results to help inform their training program. Who knows what your potential might be?

Jessica