How to See Your VO2 Max on iPhone & Apple Watch

VO2 Max is a generally used measure of cardiovascular health, and the upper your VO2 Max rating, the higher your general well being and longevity. For these of us using Apple Watch for cardio health, your iPhone and Apple Watch is ready to calculate and monitor your VO2 Max rating, supplying you with an thought of your cardiorespiratory health and endurance.

Why must you care about VO2 Max? Well, once more, for those who use an Apple Watch as a part of your health journey, it’s a really related metric. If you have an interest in optimizing your well being, then your VO2 Max rating must be tracked and improved, as a result of it could have substantial impacts in your general well being and mortality threat. As well being influencer and MD Peter Attia places it:

“Simply bringing your VO2 max from ‘low’ (bottom 25th percentile) to ‘below average’ (25th to 50th percentile) is associated with a 50% reduction in all-cause mortality. When you go from ‘low’ to ‘above average’ (50th to 75th percentile) the risk reduction is closer to 70%!”

There aren’t many different interventions that may scale back your all-cause mortality threat so considerably, so once more, VO2 Max issues. Let’s check out how one can see this info in your Apple Watch.

How to See VO2 Max Score on iPhone with Apple Watch

Your iPhone will calculate your VO2 Max rating after you’ve gotten used Apple Watch to trace a number of brisk walks, hikes, or runs open air. Thus if you don’t see a rating, it’s essential have interaction in some cardiovascular train that’s tracked in your Apple Watch. You will even must setup Cardio Fitness ranges in your Apple Watch and iPhone earlier than this knowledge will calculate.

1. Open the Health app on iPhone
2. Go to “Browse”
3. Choose “Heart”



4. Locate “Cardio Fitness” to see your VO2 Max rating



5. Tap on “Cardio Fitness” to broaden in your VO2 Max rating developments, and to get more details about VO2 Max and cardio health



6. Tap on “Show All Cardio Fitness Levels” to see VO2 Max rating ranges for various health ranges, ages, and for men and women

There you go, now you may see your VO2 Max rating and developments.

Your VO2 Max rating can change from each day, relying in your train, exertion ranges, and different health knowledge. From my observations with Apple Watch, the times the place I run have a lot greater VO2 Max scores in comparison with days the place I stroll, which isn’t shocking given one has a a lot greater cardio burden than the opposite.

Note: If you haven’t setup Cardio Fitness on iPhone and Apple Watch but, once you open the Health app to entry the VO2 Max info, you’ll as an alternative be offered with a sequence of steps to setup your cardio monitoring. Choose “Set Up”, comply with the prompts to substantiate your well being info (equivalent to age, gender, and weight), and whether or not or not you wish to activate ‘Low Cardio Fitness’ notifications. After you’ve gotten setup Cardio Fitness, you’ll need to have interaction in a number of out of doors walks, runs, or hikes, to calculate a cardio health and VO2 Max rating.

This is a extremely nice function for monitoring your health ranges. While seeing averages and details about VO2 Max will be helpful, it’s additionally essential to recollect you might be finally competing in opposition to your self right here, and whether or not or not you wish to enhance your VO2 Max rating. If you wish to enhance your VO2 Max rating, the best means to take action is to have interaction in additional cardiovascular train at greater zone ranges, which is the place viewing your goal coronary heart fee zones will be helpful, since exercising in greater goal coronary heart fee zones usually will enhance your VO2 Max.

There are different methods to calculate VO2 Max, or roundabout methods to estimate it (with issues just like the Cooper Test), however because of Apple Watch and iPhone you may get this knowledge proper now in your Health app, and you may monitor adjustments and progress alongside along with your health journey.

If you’re fascinated about studying more about VO2 Max, take a look at some data on Cleveland Clinic, and if you wish to get into the weeds a bit more about VO2 Max and it’s correlation to longevity, take a look at the beneath clip from the Peter Attia podcast:

Do you monitor your VO2 Max and health with Apple Watch and iPhone? What do you consider these options? Share your ideas within the feedback.