Introduction
Improving your cardiovascular fitness can lead to a great deal of health benefits like reductions in the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular diseases. In fact, cardiovascular fitness is much better predictor of mortality than other well established risk factors like hypertension, diabetes etc.
You can start to see why fitness programmes aimed at improving cardiovascular fitness have quite a broad appeal to the general population.
One metric that stands above all others in measuring cardiovascular fitness is V02max!
In simple terms:
“VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise. It reflects how well your heart, lungs, and muscles work together, indicating your overall cardiovascular fitness and endurance. The higher your VO2 max, the more fit you are”
Here’s the question though, which method of training is superior for improving V02 max? High intensity interval training or traditional endurance training?
This exciting study aims to
“Combine and analyse the results of different studies to see how endurance training and HIT impact VO2 max in young to middle aged healthy adults. The study specifically compared these effects against people who don’t exercise at all, as well as comparing the two types of training directly against each other!
What the study shows
Both endurance training and high-intensity interval training significantly boost VO2 max compared to not exercising at all.
People with lower initial fitness see even greater improvements from both endurance and high-intensity interval training.
For healthy young to middle-aged adults, high-intensity interval training increases VO2 max more effectively than traditional endurance training.
In studies where HIT and endurance training were directly compared, there was a small beneficial effect for HIT.
Important facts about the study
1. This study was a meta-analysis of several studies on the topic meaning that it combines and examines the results of many different studies on the same topic. This helps researchers get a clearer overall picture by looking at all the data together rather than just relying on one study.
2. The studies included in the meta-analysis were dated 28 February 2014 and prior BUT were no older than 1995.
3. Study participants included healthy, inactive men and women aged 18-45. The study didn't exclude participants based on their fitness level, but we left out studies with overweight or obese people to avoid confusion in VO2 max results.
4. 804 potential studies were reviewed and only 28 remained to be included in this analysis after meeting the studies inclusion criteria.
Our summary
The best metric for predicting mortality is V02 max. If you want to live longer, you should probably start paying attention to this number!
You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to measure and improve your V02 max. You just need to have a little bit of knowledge from an article like this one and the willingness to do some work / try something new or both!
Looking after your health and fitness is the greatest responsibility you will ever have. It directly impacts how you live and experience your existence.
It can be so hard to navigate the world of social media and vast amounts of information at your fingertips so let us help you slow down and take care of your research needs one bite size article at a time.
References
Original article
Effectiveness of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIT) and Continuous Endurance Training for VO2max improvements: A Systematic review and Meta-Analysis of controlled trials
Link to article
Authors
Zoran Milanović, Goran Sporiš and Matthew Weston
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