Comment by cameldrv

12 days ago

I dunno, if the Apple Watch said he had a vo2max of 30, that probably means he can’t run a mile in less than 12 minutes or so. He’s probably not at all healthy…

19 comments

cameldrv

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smcl  12 days ago

Apple Watch is pretty poor at estimating VO2 max and it seems to be more correlated with how often you record exercises with said watch than with your actual health. For example I watched mine climb slowly as I prepared for my football season (beyond 50), then after the season started I I ended up playing and training just as frequently but without wearing the watch. After a few weeks (of me training and playing hard) during my next run it recorded me having a sharp decline in VO2 max (43-44ish iirc). When I started wearing it during training - you're not permitted during matches - it recorded me having a slow return to condition, without any changes to my routine.

That said if it's showing someone as having 30 I don't imagine they're going to be in spectacular condition

  • port11  12 days ago

    I really don’t know whether to trust that specific measurement. When I was a very active runner and doing intervals to improve per-km time, my VO2max went from 38 to 42. I decided to do a professional VO2max test and got a 46.

    Now, 2 years later, I don’t run due to injury and a kid, and it’s resting at 34. For reference, when I went to the gym almost everyday and ran once or twice a week, the value was 32.

    I don’t get much utility out of it, even looking at the trends. Not sure what Apple is doing behind the scenes to get the score.

    • smcl  11 days ago

      Yeah so I know it's meant to be an estimate, but my experience of it is kinda fucky. I would really love to swap watches with an Olympic athlete (idk if they'd bother with an Apple Watch but bear with me!) and run 10k to see what the VO2 max reading for that exercise was. As I said, I think to me it's some estimate that heavily involves some "average of last N readings from the Apple VO2 max calc" function so even if you time travelled and gave it to Eilish McColgan or Mo Farah they'd be like "ehhh you had quite a good run, fatty - you jumped from 44.3 to 45"

      I'm not that bothered of course. For me it's just a fun metric I can attempt to optimise when training.

      1 reply →

  • eleveriven  12 days ago

    This is really more of an "utdoor run while wearing the watch" proxy than a true fitness measure

Someone  12 days ago

> he had a vo2max of 30, that probably means he can’t run a mile in less than 12 minutes or so. He’s probably not at all healthy…

Health and fitness correlate but are different things. VO2max is more about fitness than about health.

Also, looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VO2_max#Reference_values, 30 is about average for men in their 40s/50s, which, form a quick google, I estimate is the author’s age range.

  • netdevphoenix  12 days ago

    Fitness correlates with health though. Just because you don't have any conditions does not mean that you are healthy. And inability to meet certain fitness tests is correlated with lower health.

  • danielmarkbruce  11 days ago

    This is a silly take. VO2 max is one of the strongest predictors of all cause mortality. Various large scale studies have shown it to be true.

akshivb  12 days ago

I had a "below average" VO2 max score based on my Apple Watch measurements. It was ~40 mL/kg/min, in the span of about a month it jumped up to 53 mL/kg/min, which is "high" for my age group. So what happened? I started running instead of cycling as my primary form of cardio.

My hypothesis is that the apple watch estimates higher if you are running rather than pedaling. I definitely don't think my cardio vascular went from poor to great over a month. It seems more likely that it was maybe underestimating, and perhaps now is overestimating.

  • mdtancsa  12 days ago

    After a long injury, I got back to slowly running on the treadmill/bike/elliptical at the gym. IIRC, my garmin qualified its VO2Max results by saying I needed to run out side for some period of time to get a more accurate measurement. I guess there is something about the running metrics it collects that has a smaller error range.

  • wincy  12 days ago

    Yeah I just ignore it, when I was biking 40+ miles a week this summer it says my VO2 max was 18, which is just absurd. Maybe because my arm is really hairy I don’t know.

dgxyz  12 days ago

If Apple watch said anything about that it's probably wrong. It can't accurately measure VO2 max.

Incidentally I got rid of mine recently. It is bliss not having one.

Also VO2 max is a crappy measure of fitness. I apparently had "average" VO2 max after a treadmill test. I can hike 50km with a 2km elevation gain in one go and not die. People with higher VO2 max I know, dropped out.

  • evandijk70  12 days ago

    During a 50 km hike you are not anywhere close to your VO2 max, so it makes sense that the VO2 max is not predictive for that distance.

  • lurking_swe  11 days ago

    You’re not wrong. However - the Health app on the iphone (where you can view your health data) makes this VERY clear. Most people just don’t read.

    I’ll quote:

    “This is a measurement of your VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can consume during exercise. Also called cardiorespiratory fitness, this is a useful measurement for everyone from the very fit to those managing illness.

    A higher VO, max indicates a higher level of cardio fitness and endurance.

    Measuring VO2 max requires a physical test and special equipment. You can also get an estimated VO, max with heart rate and motion data from a fitness tracker. Apple Watch can record an estimated VO max when you do a brisk walk, hike, or run outdoors.

    VO, max is classified for users 20 and older. Most people can improve their VO, max with more intense and more frequent cardiovascular exercise. Certain conditions or medications that limit your heart rate may cause an overestimation of your VO, max. VOz max is not validated for pregnant users. You can indicate you're taking certain medications or add a current pregnancy in Health Details.”

  • bwv848  12 days ago

    > hike 50km with a 2km elevation gain in one go and not die.

    And thru-hikers can do this for days. It’s more related to fatigue resistance, mitochondrial density, and walking efficiency. But VO2 max still matters in high-intensity sports, you can’t ignore it when you’re pedaling a bike at high Zone 4 in a race.

mr_toad  12 days ago

Compared to the average patient a typical GP sees, someone who can actually run a mile is probably doing pretty well.