Fitness adds years to your life; not to mention quality to those years. Need proof. We can boil it down to one measurement: Your VO2 max. The better your score, the healthier you are.
Scientists measured the VO2max of 122,000 53 year old subjects and then tracked their mortality. The participants were categorized into four groups based on their baseline VO2 max: “Low,” “Below Average,” “Above Average,” and “High.” During the study researchers found:
- Going from low to below average meant a 50% reduction in mortality over a decade.
- Going from low to above average meant a 60% or 70% reduction in mortality.
While you may still get hit by a bus, having a high VO2 max ensures you’ll be around for minute.
What is VO2 max?
VO2 max is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen that your body can utilize when undergoing strenuous exercise.
You want the good news or the bad news?
Good news: You can improve your VO2 max.
Bad news: You’re going to have to work for it.
How do I go from good to better?
50% of your VO2 max is genetic; so choose parents with high VO2 max scores.
Can’t do that? You’re gonna have to work at it. HIIT workouts (high intensity interval training) are your best bet here. HIIT programs generally involve repeated, short (3-8 minutes) intervals of near maximum intensity effort, followed by short periods of rest. A classic protocol, and one that has a considerable amount of research behind it, is the 4×4 protocol. This approach involves exercising for 4 minutes at a heart rate of 90-95% of your maximum heart rate, resting for 3-4 minutes, then repeating for 4 intervals.
Yikes. That sounds terrible. And I’m fit.
Good news is that you only need to go into the pain cave for a little bit of time every week. Below is a solid prescription of how long you should train in each heart rate zone.
- Zone 1: 30%-40% of your time
- Zone 2: 40%-50% of your time
- Zone 3: 10%-15% of your time
- Zone 4: 5%-10% of your time
- Zone 5: 5% of your time
How hard do I have to work?
The American Heart association (have you heard their latest campaign? America! Please exercise) recommends 150 minutes of cardio every week, so all in all we’re looking at 15 minutes a week in the hurt locker.
Some of you are undoubtedly shaking your heads; thinking you can hardly do zone 1.
Speaking from experience: I can basically live all day in zone 3. Zone 4 and 5 suck a little bit. Going there for 10% of your weekly cardio… not that daunting all things considered. Hey- You may even want to hire a Trainer who can devise workouts to help you do it. For a little extra they’ll shout stuff like ‘you got this’ and ‘feel the burn’. We want you to live a long, vital life because vital people make the world a better place.
The world needs more vital people if ya ask me.
‘You’re a Trainer,’ you’ll say. ‘I’m not’. I can’t move like that.’
To which I reply with the words of my Dear old grandmother when she’d tell me ‘Stephen, Can’t is a four letter word, so F* that noise.’
