Fitness: What does your VO2 max score tell you about your fitness?

It used to be only elite athletes knew their VO 2 max. Considered an objective measure of aerobic fitness, VO 2 max testing was typically performed in labs by trained personnel, making it inaccessible to most exercise enthusiasts. But all that changed when smart watches (Apple, Garmin, etc.) started offering a user-friendly alternative to lab-based testing.

VO 2 max measures the capacity of the body’s circulatory and respiratory systems to supply oxygen to the working muscles. More simply put, it’s the maximum (max) volume (V) of oxygen (O2) your body can transport in a single minute. Typically expressed by the number of kilograms of oxygen transported per kilogram of body weight per minute, the average VO 2 max for a middle-age male 36-55 years of age is 32-38ml/kg/min. For middl