Kettlebell A+A Swings / Snatches and Vo2max Question

[Oscar]

I'm going to ask a stupid question: if an unfit 65 year old starts exercising and eating well and drops from 100 Kg to 80 kg (keeping almost everything else equal), didn't he increase his VO2max by about 20%?

Regarding the original post, which analyzes VO2max for the common people, this is what it is indicating IMO. VO2 max might depend on genetics for athletes at their peak, but not so for untrained people.

This seems to be in line with Mike's table above. If this guy was running the 1.5 mile in 20 minutes at the beginning, he can run it in 16 minutes at the end (kind of, you get the idea).

If this is correct, the answer to the original post could be: tell your friend to keep doing what he is doing and to keep his bodyweight low. That way he'll optimize his VO2 max.

 

[mprevost]

If VO2 max is a measure of one's aerobic capacity, and increased aerobic capacity is associated with health, then it seems a valid measure relative to health.

So the question in my mind is, are these two things the same? "I want to increase my aerobic capacity." and "I want to increase my VO2 max."

I suppose it depends on how you define health. It gets a bit fuzzy. If you define it as longevity with no notable disease state and the ability to do simple, non demanding tasks in life, then you can get by with a modest VO2 max. If you define it as maintaining a near youthful capacity, then VO2 max is a health measure. It is all semantics really. It depends on how you want to live. Personally, the second definition is what I am after, so maintaining my VO2 max is a goal of mine.

 

[mprevost]

I'm going to ask a stupid question: if an unfit 65 year old starts exercising and eating well and drops from 100 Kg to 80 kg (keeping almost everything else equal), didn't he increase his VO2max by about 20%?

Regarding the original post, which analyzes VO2max for the common people, this is what it is indicating IMO. VO2 max might depend on genetics for athletes at their peak, but not so for untrained people.

This seems to be in line with Mike's table above. If this guy was running the 1.5 mile in 20 minutes at the beginning, he can run it in 16 minutes at the end (kind of, you get the idea).

If this is correct, the answer to the original post could be: tell your friend to keep doing what he is doing and to keep his bodyweight low. That way he'll optimize his VO2 max.

Yes, you are correct. VO2 max is milliliters of oxygen consumed per minute, divided by bodyweight in kilograms.

 

[mark reinke]

Yes, you are correct. VO2 max is milliliters of oxygen consumed per minute, divided by bodyweight in kilograms.

But it would probably go up more than 20% because of the additional adaptations to endurance exercise

 

[mprevost]

But it would probably go up more than 20% because of the additional adaptations to endurance exercise

True. That adaptation piece is variable with some gaining very little and others a large amount. There is a genetic component to both VO2 max and to ability to improve VO2 max.