70. CALCULATING VO2MAX WITHOUT LAB TEST

Photo by Munbaik Cycling Clothing on Unsplash

VO2max (maximum oxygen consumption) is the maximum amount of oxygen that the body can use per minute to produce energy (watts). So, it a metric representing the horsepower of the athlete’s aerobic engine. It can be expressed as Litres per Minute (L/Min) or milliliters per kilogram per minute (ml/kg/min), with the latter being a better option as normalised for body weight. In fact it is intuitive to understand that a 2.00m tall athlete is likely to be able to use more L/min of oxygen than a 1.60m one.

VO2max is a the main factor determining cycling performance: large positive correlations have been reported between VO2max in ml/min/kg and Watts/Kg (or VO2max in L/Min and Watts) for performance lasting approximately between 5 min and 1 hour. This means that, in such efforts, a rider with 80 VO2max will very likely outperform a rider with 65 VO2max, who in turn will very likely outperform a rider with 50 VO2max.

When VO2max differences are small (I would say maximum 5-10 ml/kg/min) other physiological factors can contribute to determine races’ outcome:

1. Having Lactate/Ventilatory thresholds/CP/FTP at a high percentage of VO2max to optimize performance in efforts lasting ~20min-1hour.

2. Efficiency: the ability to spend as little energy as possible to produce a certain amount of watts (it depends on physiological and biomechanical factors)

3. Anaerobic Reserve: to launch winning high power efforts lasting ~1s-2min through the anaerobic metabolism.

4. Durability: the ability to maintain performance level during very long races

5. Recovery: the ability to maintain the highest possible performance level in multiday races (one-week stage races and grand tours). Having a great recovery can also help to load more during training and so to make more improvements over time.

So, how to measure VO2Max?

The gold standard to measure VO2max is attending a physiology lab and doing an incremental maximal exercise test measuring gas expired through a metabolic cart. The price for such a test is usually between 150 and 400 euros. As you are spending money, you would like to have accurate test results, but this is not always the case. In fact, here are several metabolic cart models on the market, but not all are enough accurate. If you are considering to do a lab test, here you can find a review about the accuracy of different metabolic cart models to choose the right lab to attend.

However, for money and logistics reasons, you might not attend a lab test to know your VO2max or the VO2max of the athletes you work with.

Can a field test with using only power meter data estimate accurately VO2max?

A study published in 2021 by Sebastian Sitko and Colleagues (Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain) on International Journal of Sport Physiology and Performance tried to answer this question. (1)

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WHAT DID THEY DO?