This key fitness metric is crucial for Olympic ski mountaineering\u2014and regular health, too<\/p>\n
VO2 max is an important measure of aerobic conditioning, whether you\u2019re an Olympian or just a person hoping to stay healthy<\/p>\n
By Matt Fuchs<\/a> edited by Tanya Lewis<\/a><\/p>\n Alba de Silvestro in action during Ski Mountaineering individual World Cup Finals on March 28, 2021 in Madonna Di Campiglio, Italy.<\/p>\n Davide Mombelli – Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n From skating to curling, the thrilling sports of the Winter Olympics have plenty of science behind them. Follow our coverage here<\/a> to learn more.<\/p>\n When ski mountaineering, or skimo, debuts at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina in Italyon Thursday, athletes will face off in a brutal test of aerobic capacity. They will schlep their skis up a snowy mountainside that is twice as steep as a typical incline treadmill\u2019s highest angle. And as they do so, they will move up to 10 kilometers per hour uphill while they suck lower-density, high-altitude air and carry more than 4 kilograms of gear.<\/p>\n Such challenges require off-the-charts aerobic conditioning, as demonstrated by their \u201cVO\u2082 max\u201d: the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use per minute during all-out exercise. Watching from the couch, many people may see no connection between these physical feats and their own workouts. But VO\u2082 max is a key marker of performance and health for both high-level athletes and regular people, says Jill Kanaley, an exercise physiologist at the University of Missouri, who studies the key fitness measure. \u201cThe higher your VO\u2082 max, the better you\u2019ll perform in a race or everyday life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n On supporting science journalism<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what skimo teaches us about VO\u2082 max and why it matters.<\/p>\n Olympic-Level VO\u2082 Max<\/p>\n VO\u2082 max reflects how efficiently the lungs move oxygen to the blood vessels and how well the vessels relay that oxygen to the muscles for intense exercise. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, VO\u2082 max is the gold-standard measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.<\/p>\n The average 40-year-old\u2019s VO\u2082 max is around 35 milliliters per kilogram per minute. For some ski mountaineers, by contrast, it\u2019s in the 80s<\/a>.<\/p>\n Skimo sprinters aren\u2019t the only VO\u2082 max phenoms at the Olympics<\/a>. Elite cross-country skiers have some of the highest VO\u2082 max values<\/a> on record, with some having values above 90. Their numbers, on average, are similar to skimo racers, says Verena Menz, an exercise physiologist at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, who studies<\/a> these athletes. (And it\u2019s not just winter athletes with high VO\u2082 values\u2014Tour de France cyclists have VO\u2082 maxes similar to those of skimo sprinters, too, and Norwegian triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt recently set what appears to be a world-record<\/a> VO\u2082 max of 101.1.)<\/p>\n In addition to being aerobically-gifted, ski mountaineers must stride with massive force<\/a>, delivered in under a half second per step\u2014a cadence comparable to that of many recreational runners. Top skimo athletes have both high VO\u2082 max and explosive<\/a> upper- and lower-body strength<\/a> relative to their body weight.<\/p>\n VO\u2082 Max and Health for the Average Person<\/p>\n VO\u2082 max isn\u2019t just important for sports: an Olympic-level VO\u2082 max\u2014whether in elite athletes or regular people\u2014has been linked to exceptional longevity. Even a slight increase in a person\u2019s VO\u2082 max can markedly lower<\/a>their risk of premature death<\/a>. Research that analyzed more than 122,000 adults over eight years found that each incremental increase between the lowest and highest VO\u2082 max was associated with longer survival<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201cmuch easier\u201d to see improvement in low VO\u2082 max numbers than it is to improve an already higher value, says Kanaley, who trains people with diabetes<\/a> in cardiovascular fitness. With basic exercise, previously sedentary people can increase their VO\u2082 max by about 20 percent, which helps them do tasks such as climbing stairs and walking hills, Kanaley says.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re already moderately fit, increasing your VO\u2082 max requires a more specific training regimen: performing 75 to 80 percent of your exercise<\/a> at moderate intensities and then doing the rest of your workouts at higher intensities\u2014including maximum exertion\u2014Menz says. For a runner, this might mean focusing a few sessions on relatively short, all-out efforts such as hill sprints.<\/p>\n VO\u2082 max is measured through a fitness test at a commercial lab, which analyzes gases from the nose and mouth that are captured by a mask. Scientists test skimo sprinters by rigging their labs to simulate uphill ski mountaineering specifically. \u201cWe always test athletes in a sport-specific manner,\u201d Menz explains. Because sports-specific tests work the same muscle groups and movements that an athlete has been training, factors such as muscle fatigue won\u2019t limit them before their cardiovascular system does.<\/p>\n VO\u2082 max isn\u2019t the only attribute worth training for both Olympic and everyday fitness. Strength, balance and flexibility are just as important<\/a>.<\/p>\n The average person doesn\u2019t need to track their VO\u2082 max, though; they just need to monitor whether their exercise performance<\/a> changes during dedicated training. Take running a 5K, for example. \u201cIf your time improves over a period of six months,\u201d Kanaley says, \u201cso has your fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n Ski mountaineers don\u2019t judge success by their VO\u2082 max, after all. They judge it by their overall performance\u2014and by the color of their medal.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/a>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts<\/a>, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters<\/a>, must-watch videos, challenging games<\/a>, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. 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I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 18, 2026 4 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm This key fitness metric is crucial for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[565,134,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-290653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-1309632447_resized.jpeg\")
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