VO2 max are a measurement of how efficiently the heart, the lungs, and the muscles can move and use oxygen during intense physical effort. When you engage in intense physical effort, your heart, your lungs, and your muscles requires oxygen to function. If the heart, the lungs, and the muscles cannot recieve or use enough oxygen, you will experience a feeling of fatigue.
This feeling of fatigue occur because you have reached a physiological ceiling, and this physiological ceiling is called your VO2 max. VO2 max is a measurement of aerobic fitness, and VO2 max is an indicator of cardiovascular health. Women often have lower VO2 max scores than men because women have different biological characteristics than men. For example, women often have smaller average heart size than men, and women often have lower hemoglobin levels than men.
VO2 Max for Women and How to Improve It
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Additionally, women often have different body fat distributions than men. These biological differences mean that a womans VO2 max score will naturaly be lower than a mans VO2 max score, but a lower VO2 max score dont mean that a woman is less fit than a man. You should compare your VO2 max score to age based benchmarks that account for these biological differences.
VO2 max scores are divided into categories such as fair, good, or superior so that you can understand your current level of aerobic fitness. Understanding your VO2 max category provides you with a roadmap for your fitness progress, and moving into a higher VO2 max category is beneficial for your long term health. High aerobic capacity are a predictor of longevity, so increasing your aerobic capacity is an investment in your future health.
Hormones in the body influence VO2 max and influence how you experience physical exertion. The menstrual cycle cause hormonal changes in the body, and these hormonal changes can affect your energy levels and your recovery speed. During the follicular phase, estrogen levels rise in the body, and rising estrogen levels can increase your energy and your tolerance for intense training.
During the luteal phase, progesterone levels rise in the body, and rising progesterone levels can increase your body temperature. Because progesterone levels increase your body temperature, the luteal phase can make physical exercise feel more difficultly for a person. This difficulty does not mean you are losing fitness, but it means the internal environment of your bodys changed.
You can train more effective by working with your hormonal cycles instead of fighting against your hormonal cycles. You dont need to achieve a personal record during every training session, because trying to achieve a personal record every day can lead to burnout or injury. A balanced training approach include high-intensity interval training and long, steady state exercise.
High-intensity interval training helps to increase your VO2 max, and long, steady state exercise helps to build your aerobic foundation. You need high-intensity training to trigger adaptation in the body, but you also need recovery so that the body can complete those adaptation. As a woman enters menopause, the decline in estrogen levels can cause a decline in aerobic capacity.
Because estrogen levels decline during menopause, consistent and structured exercise become necessary to maintain your health. Even if you begin structured exercise later in life, you can still see significant improvement in your aerobic capacity. Many factor can influence your VO2 max score.
For example, your iron levels can influence your VO2 max, your sleep quality can influence your VO2 max, and your nutritional habits can influence your VO2 max. If you feel sluggish during a workout, it may be because you need better nutrition or more rest. You should of used age based benchmarks to guide your progress, and you should monitor the signal that your body sends to you.
