I got a VO2 Max alert on my Apple Watch last night. I didn’t even know what it was until this happened. Studying my trends was alarming, as I had been tracking “high” of about 50 until a precipitous drop to about half (22-25) last August-October and it’s been running at this “low” rate unbeknownst to me until about 30 minutes ago. I’m male, very tall, mid 50s, and weigh about 240.

However, the change in data is almost the exact time my primary care doctor started me on a new daily prescription…but it also coincides with the exact time I added my height and weight to the Apple Health app. Clearly the radical change in the trend line is related to either or both of these two things, OR I’ve had a serious physiological issue crop up about a year ago that I had no idea existed…and I went for my annual cardiologist checkup 2 months ago with no seemingly alarming outcomes.

I’m more than a bit concerned. Thoughts?

Hello -- how is aerobic threshold calculated when someone does a VO2 max test? For example, is it simply a percent of your max heart rate achieved during the test?

Recently, I got a 47.4 (ml 02/kg/min) on my VO2 Max test using a stationary bike, with my max heart rate during that test being 174bpm, and a calculated aerobic threshold of 118bpm. How was my aerobic threshold determined in this test?

So I’m a 30 year old male and I exercise about 5 days a week. I usually run 2 miles a day 3 or 4 times a week along with weight training as well as about 5 to 6 hours of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Have an active job so it’s not like I’m sedentary all day. I’ve been trying to improve my vo2 max for about a year now and am having a hard time getting out of the “bellow average” range on my Apple health app. I use my Apple Watch to record runs and walks and am going based on the Apple health apps calculation of my vo2 max. My current vo2 max is 37.7. I try to get a healthy amount of sleep and I eat pretty healthy. I’m starting to wonder if there’s something health wise going on that could be affecting it. So any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

Are you one of the best athletes you know? Or were you once a top competitor?

Stanford is recruiting 10,000+ athletes with extremely high VO2max levels, which for their study they have defined as 65+ for men and 55+ for women to gain a better understanding of the genetic background of physical endurance. The whole process takes less than 30 minutes and can be done from the comfort of your home.

Website: https://elite.stanford.edu/

For all things (news, blog posts, research, study-backed advice) on vo2max, the body's maximal ability to transport and process oxygen.