What is aerobic capacity and VO2 Max?
Aerobic resistance is the capacity of the heart and the vascular system in general to be able to carry out intense physical exercise for a long time, with hardly any fatigue and with easy recovery. Obviously, this is something that is tied to the oxygen consumption of the body. The more capacity the body has to retain oxygen, the better it will be able to distribute it to all the tissues so that it can be exchanged with the cells and improve the cardiovascular system. In this way, you can see that when you return to training after an injury, you feel more drowning. This is because the body loses this aerobic capacity over time, which is measured through VO2 Max.
As we say, VO2 Max is the measure of aerobic capacity. This represents the maximum amount of oxygen a person consumes in milliliters per kilogram per minute. This is really useful to be able to calculate how efficiently the body manages all the oxygen. All high-ranking or elite athletes have astronomical figures, but this is something that requires great training to improve little by little. The problem is that the body can easily get used to not using oxygen efficiently and reduce this figure.
How Apple Watch measures
It is known to all that the Apple Watch is a device that is closely related to health. There are many parameters that can be detected with this small device, and one of them is aerobic capacity. Specifically, what it is going to do is provide an estimate of the aerobic capacity, measuring VO2 max. But this is something that is done by measuring the intensity with which your heart works when you do any type of exercise, such as walking, running or even walking on the road. The algorithm will take all the data from the cardiac sensor and also from the oxygen saturation, as well as from the rhythm of physical exercise to be able to extract this variable.
This is something that can be consulted at all times through the Health application. Obviously it’s not completely accurate and it doesn’t update in real time, through an application as can happen with the heart rate, for example. It is also a value that has to be seen very broadly and not every day, since what is really important is the evolution that has to be gained when numerous training sessions are carried out. It should be borne in mind that in order to estimate this level, the following data are used:
- Age
- Sex
- Weight
- Height
- Medicines that can affect the heart rate
Requirements to be taken into account
As is logical, it must be taken into account that the Apple Watch must meet certain requirements when it comes to wanting this value among the available data. Specifically, it is required to have a Apple Watch Series 3 or higher, as well as the latest version of the software. The minimum established, obviously, is the first version that this particular model had. This is a limitation that is applied precisely by the processor, since it is always necessary to have a hardware that has the strength to be able to process all the information and give the result of aerobic capacity.
It is also important that in order to carry out this measurement, minimum 20 years. This is because the studies carried out by Apple have taken a population that exceeds this age. In the case of having a lower age, the feature will not be activated directly and if you lie in the configuration, the data will finally not adjust to reality. To this is added that the supported range is 14-60 mL/kg/minute.
Make settings
By default, this is a cfeature that is disabled on Apple Watch. For this reason, the following steps must be followed to activate:
- In the Health app on iPhone, tap the Explore tab.
- Press Heart and then, “Aerobic capacity”.
- Tap Configure and then Next.
- Confirm the information. Any changes you make here saved to Health Profile in Settings.
- Tap Next.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to learn about other factors that can reduce aerobic capacity, as well as normal levels for your age and gender.
- Tap Next.
- Tap Turn on notifications to get a notification if Apple Watch detects that your aerobic capacity is low. To activate notifications, you must be at least 20 years old.
- Press OK.
From this moment on, if the aerobic capacity levels are low depending on age or gender, a notification will be received immediately. In most cases, having lower than average levels is due to a lack of physical exercise. That is why it is going to have to increase the intensity and frequency of exercises focused on the cardiovascular system. But also, some diseases or medications will be able to reduce the heart rate and this will cause the VO2 maximum to be completely altered.
Consult the information
Once the option has been activated, obviously you will have to consult the data that has been collected. This is something that is going to be very controlled and you can access at any time if you receive a notification of low aerobic capacity. Likewise, to be able to consult all the data you will have to follow the following steps:
- Open the Health app on iPhone and tap Explore.
- Tap Heart, then Aerobic Capacity.
- Press D, S or A to see your daily, weekly or yearly average.
- Tap Show all aerobic fitness levels.
- Tap a level to compare your results with other levels based on your age and gender.
