Testing my VO2 max | am I an elite athlete

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Today we're going to be testing out if I'm a truly elite athlete. We're going to be doing one of the most important test that has to do with the heart and lungs. We're doing a VO2 max test today, which is terrifying because you basically have to move yourself so fast for set amount of time to your absolute maximum. We're going to do that today and just see how fit I am. I'm hoping that I am fit, but we're going to find out.

[00:00:17]>> In its simplest form is your body's ability to use oxygen to produce muscular work. Today we're going to test it at a maximal capacity Okay. because it's going to give us a reflection into your cardio respiratory fitness. Like you said, you're here for athletic reasons. We're going to give you your heart rate zones, give you feedback on how to train, and and I can also give you feedback on based on how you perform today what you specifically need to do to improve.

[00:00:44]>> where we at today and we get to where we want to be and then we can maintain that as we age, we can maintain a high quality of life as we age.

[00:00:51]>> Amazing.

[00:00:52]>> So this is an important one to track.

[00:00:53]You're super young now, so you'll track it what you're like when you're 35, 40, and and so on and so forth and you'll think back like, "Oh my god, remember I was 30 and my VO2 was We'll find out today.

[00:01:06]>> [laughter] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Less than a minute and a half to the next one. We're pushing to that next stage.

[00:01:30]Kate, hold on.

[00:01:39]You did so great. Did I? Yes. I don't know if you're just lying to me.

[00:01:43]>> No, no, >> [laughter] >> I'm not.

[00:01:44]>> Okay. The Garmin predicted 49.

[00:01:47]>> Yeah. I predicted in the 50s. Who knows, maybe we'll touch 60. You got 58.5.

[00:01:53]>> No way. Yeah! That's actually really good. That's excellent.

[00:01:59]>> Yay! For your age and sex, you're ranked AS SUPERIOR.

[00:02:03]>> OH!

[00:02:05]LET'S GO!

[00:02:06]>> [laughter] >> 99TH PERCENTILE, you're in the top 1% for your age and sex, of course. I mean, you you have to know that. No, I actually cuz because I'm so bad at cardio endurance, I was like I was well prepared to be like below average.

[00:02:19]Definitely way [laughter] above average.

[00:02:22]Obviously never want to really compare yourself to the average population, it's not doing so great, but of course good to know that we're top 1%. Wow, it feels so good about myself. This is a great way to start my morning. See, and you were so nervous about coming in.

[00:02:35]>> literally so nervous. I was I was texting Patrick and I was like, "Yo, I'm dreading today."

[00:02:39]>> [laughter] >> You did really great. The [clears throat] heart rate of 116-123 being your specific zone two. So it's quite tight. Okay, yeah. So when you're doing zone two training, you have to be very meticulous Okay.

[00:02:51]>> and make sure you're in and around that 120 range. Right? So do you do zone two training right now? I do, but I was doing zone two training at like 120 to 130. So definitely higher than like what I'm actually supposed to be doing.

[00:03:04]>> Most people will have to bring it down just a notch.

[00:03:09]Yeah. I mean, the research just supports zone two training is is very clear. So you can definitely improve this number.

[00:03:17]The human body is insane.

[00:03:20]So it's definitely trainable to do better, but in terms of before coming in here, this number that you have here is your years and years and months and months of hard work that's led you here.

[00:03:31]It's not like the last two weeks that you trained for this specific test and now you have a really high number. No, there's no way to cheat. This is this is the system. That's why the VO2 max is so great for longevity because you can't cheat it. Yeah, this is like truly like what my like years of training and everything like that has led me to this point. And then from here, if I want to train for again like years and time, that's when I can increase and like make it better.

[00:03:55]But no, that's why I wanted to come. I wanted to get like a good baseline of where I'm at currently cuz obviously I wouldn't want to do it at like say the end of my marathon [music] when I've been training like running for a bunch and being really focused on that. So it's a good baseline to train or see this now and then maybe like after my marathon, after High Rocks like in October like months down the line, I can come back and just see like if training in my zone two, zone three has like really helped, [music] you know, my conditioning and everything. Yeah, get you to where you want to be. Yeah. Now that I'm working with like custom numbers, not just like generic [music] calculations. Yeah.

[00:04:23]Yeah.

[00:04:24]Yeah, this definitely leaves the guesswork out of it. I'll give you specific feedback since [music] you have some athletic marathon goals as well.

[00:04:31]>> Yes, they do. They do it for that. Shout out PushPounds for the VO2 max test today cuz it was actually so much less intimidating than I thought because it's a shorter period of time. So it was only an incline and then increased speed like through both of them, which made it a lot shorter. Also, the actual mask itself was relatively comfortable. And plus, we also really like my results because my results said that I'm superior, which we love. This graph here that shows and I'll have Dial put it up as well, basically shows that like my heart rate went up and then like never plateaued. It just kept on chasing upwards. So that is something I do have to work on and to do that and help get that in better a quote unquote shape is basically working in my zone two, zone three a lot better because I will say that is a very boring way to train and I've been probably not spending enough time in it as I should, and which is why my heart rate's not showing the whole like as each phase happens like your heart rate should increase and then plateau, increase and then plateau. But mine was just increase, increase, increase until I was just tired. So that's something that I definitely need to work on. Other things that we learned was also my lungs are small, which makes sense. I'm a small person.

[00:05:30]But of course, with smaller lungs as I start to get more tired throughout it, I started to take much shorter, quicker breaths, which makes it again makes it feel harder than it is. I think in general, I am a mentally weak person, so when I do feel that like quick breathing, I kind of panic a little bit and then I think I'm way more tired than I am and so I quit a little bit earlier.

[00:05:49]I think for me if I had seen my score of like 58, I could have potentially kept going if I knew I like to get to 60 would mean like I'm super elite or super superior, whatever it is. That's where my mental strength comes in. If I know I have an end point or an end goal, if I don't know what it is, I don't really necessarily make myself get there, which is kind of tough. But overall, learned a lot this time doing my VO2 max and I'm honestly really excited to start getting training into my zone two, zone three.

[00:06:14]That way by the time the marathon comes, by High Rocks Toronto, when I'm trying to be more competitive for myself at least, um I can have like really good results and have really good training and then we'll probably go back to PushPounds and do a VO2 max test part two just to see how much the training has impacted. But I do think this is a super important test to do because like we said in the video, this is one that like directly correlates to someone's longevity and their overall health, so it's super important to take care of your heart and lungs because that's like literally how blood and oxygen gets like pushed out through your body and everything like that. And honestly, it's also just something if you're wanting actual custom training, this is just a great tool if you're someone who's wanting to be not only an endurance athlete, but just anyone who's wanting to like work within specific zones of their heart rate. So hopefully you guys found this video enjoyable and you learned something. I had a lot of fun and now we can only get better from here.