How to increase your VO2max by 4.2 points in 3 months

Last year, I decided to get healthier and learned something really important along the way: VO2max. It’s like a test that shows how healthy your body is overall. When I first measured mine, it was 37.5, which wasn’t great. But I was determined to make it better, and in just 3 months, I raised it by over 4 points!

About me

Let me tell you a bit about myself. About 15 years ago, I found out I had some problems with my back and my heart. My doctors told me I had to be careful and not do too much exercise, like running or playing soccer. But things have changed, and now we have a lot of information to help us stay healthy. By changing what I eat, how I sleep, and how I exercise, I’ve been able to change my life. Nowadays, I run 5 kilometers almost every other day, and I want to share what I’ve learned with you.

What is VO2Max?

So, what’s VO2max? It’s a way to measure how much oxygen your body uses when you’re doing really hard exercise. It tells us how fit our heart and lungs are, and it can even predict if we might have heart problems in the future.

I have heart problems myself, which means my heart has some blockages in the arteries. But there are things we can do to reduce the risk of having heart problems, like exercising and eating healthy foods. I’ve spent a lot of time researching how to not only stop the blockages in my arteries but also help my body heal over time.

How to increase your VO2Max

To increase your VO2max, you need to exercise really hard. For me, that meant running 3 to 4 times a week. I’m not a natural runner, so it was tough at first. But I also started tracking my progress using an Apple Watch. It helped me see how much I was improving.

The hardest part was staying motivated to keep exercising. So, I got an under-the-desk treadmill and signed up for an app called Zwift. It’s cool because it shows you running in a virtual world and lets you run with other people. I started running more and pushing myself harder, and eventually, I saw my VO2max start to go up.

I learned something important along the way: to make your VO2max go up faster, you need to push yourself harder than usual. That means adding some fast running intervals to your regular runs. It might be tough, but it’s worth it!

So, if you want to increase your VO2max, remember to:

Exercise regularly, ideally running at least twice a week with one interval run.
Keep track of your progress. Use devices like an Apple Watch to see how you’re improving.
Find what motivates you. Whether it’s a goal you want to reach or an app like Zwift, find something that keeps you excited about exercising.

I hope this helps you understand why VO2max is important and how you can make yours better. Let’s get moving and stay healthy together!

Here is the TIMETOOK Treadmill that I used.