#29

Why VO2 Maxxing Could Save Your Life

Reader, If I asked you what number predicted how long you’ll live better than your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your BMI, and even whether or not you smoke, would you want to know what it is?

That number is your VO2 max.

Most men have never heard of it and even fewer have ever tested it. Even worse, almost nobody is actively training to improve it.

This is something that desperately needs to change , let me tell you why.

What Even Is VO2 Max?

Firstly, let’s start with understanding what VO2 max is. VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. Think of it as your body’s horsepower rating. The higher the number, the more efficient your heart, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles are at working together under pressure.

It’s measured in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min). For context, an average untrained man in his 30s might sit around 35-40 ml/kg/min. A well trained man could be north of 50, and elite endurance athletes can hit 70+.

You don’t need to be elite, but you absolutely cannot afford to be in the bottom category.

Here’s why.

The Research That Should Wake You Up

Study 1: The Cleveland Clinic Study (JAMA Network Open, 2018)

This is one of the biggest studies ever done on fitness and mortality. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic followed 122,007 adults who had undergone treadmill fitness testing. They tracked them for a median of 8.4 years and over 1.1 million person-years of observation.

The results were staggering!

People in the lowest fitness group had a mortality risk nearly 5 times higher than those in the elite fitness group. To put that in perspective, the increased death risk from being unfit was GREATER than the risk from smoking, diabetes, or even having coronary artery disease.

And here’s what makes this study particularly powerful. There was no upper limit to the benefit. The fitter you were, the longer you lived. No plateau. No ceiling. No diminishing returns.

The researchers concluded that cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the most important modifiable indicators of long-term survival. Modifiable being the key word here. You can actually change this number.

Study 2: The British Journal of Sports Medicine Meta-Analysis (2025)

This study looked at data from nearly 400,000 people across 20 different studies. The researchers wanted to answer a simple question. What matters more for survival, your weight or your fitness?

The answer was clear.

People who were overweight or even obese but had good cardiorespiratory fitness showed no significant increase in mortality risk compared to fit individuals at a normal weight. Meanwhile, unfit individuals, regardless of what they weighed, had 2 to 3 times the risk of dying from any cause.

Being fit and overweight is statistically safer than being skinny and unfit. This completely flips the narrative that most men have been sold about health. The scale is not the most important measure of your health. Your cardiovascular fitness is.

Study 3: The Copenhagen Male Study (JACC, 2018)

This study followed middle-aged men from Copenhagen for 46 YEARS. Nearly half a century of data. Researchers measured their VO2 max at baseline in the early 1970s and then tracked who lived and who died.

Every single unit increase in VO2 max was associated with an extra 45 days of life. That’s not a typo. 45 more days on this earth, per unit of increased VO2 max!

Higher fitness in midlife was strongly tied to lower cardiovascular death and lower all-cause mortality, and these benefits extended well into old age. The men who were fit at 40 were still reaping the rewards at 80.

Why Most Men Are Ignoring This

The issue is that in modern medicine, almost nobody talks about this.

Your doctor checks your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your weight. But how many doctors have ever asked you about your VO2 max? Probably zero.

Meanwhile, VO2 max is arguably the single most powerful predictor of whether you’ll be around to see your kids grow up, retire comfortably, and enjoy the life you’ve been building.

This is also a metric that naturally declines as you age at a rate of 5 to 10 percent per decade if you do nothing about it. The clock is already ticking, every year you don’t train your cardiovascular fitness, you’re falling further behind.

How to Actually Improve It

The good news is that VO2 max is very trainable. Approximately 50% of your score is genetic, but the other 50% is completely in your hands, and you don’t need to become a marathon runner to make meaningful progress.

Here’s what works.

Zone 2 Training. This is your foundation. Long, steady cardio at a conversational pace. Think brisk walking, easy cycling, light jogging. Aim for 150 to 180 minutes per week. This will help you build the aerobic base that everything else sits on top of.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). This is where the real VO2 max gains come from. Short bursts of all-out effort followed by rest periods. Something like 4 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy, repeated 4 to 5 times. Do this 1 to 2 times per week.

Consistency. This is the one that matters most. You don’t improve VO2 max with a single brutal session. You improve it by showing up week after week, month after month, year after year. Your body adapts to what you consistently ask it to do.

If you want to know your actual number, ask your doctor about a cardiopulmonary exercise test. Some smartwatches and fitness trackers also give estimated readings. They’re not perfectly accurate, but they give you a ballpark to work from and a trend to track over time.

The Man Daily Way

Your VO2 max is the best single measure of how long (lifespan) and how well you’re going to live (healthspan).

The research is overwhelming. Low fitness kills more reliably than smoking, obesity, or heart disease. Conversely, high fitness levels protect you even when other risk factors are working against you.

This isn’t about running a sub-3-hour marathon or posting your Strava stats online for validation.

This is about being alive, functional and capable. Being the man who can still play with his grandkids, carry the shopping without getting winded, and live independently well into old age.

Train your heart like your life depends on it, because the science says it does.

That’s The Man Daily way.