VO2 Max is generally not very trainable, and a 50 VO2Max is on par with a 20 minute 5k or 6:30/mile pace which simply might not be attainable for all 50 year olds regardless of training.

If you are going from sedentary to training seriously it may be possible to go from 37 to 50 in a year if talented but in most cases that’s a long term progression over a whole training career.

As you noted... It depends. Vo2max generally is trainable between 15-25%. Which would suggest between 43 - 46 ml/kg/min.

Untrained you probably would be on the upper end of that range after a year or two.

Thanks very very much for that. :)

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Thanks very much for that . :)

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Most of the studies that I have seen that support that contention were only a few months long (often 12 weeks for the university semester). They are also generally quite old. From my second hand understanding of more recent studies I believe that it is thought to be significantly more trainable than the earlier consensus.

Given that VO2 Max is established by dividing by weight it seems fairly likely that many people could increase by significantly more than 25% by combining increased cardio fitness with reduced body fat. About a decade ago I went from untrained (I would estimate 30 minutes or so for 5K) to 18:40 for 5K. I did not do any VO2 tests during that time but I would be very surprised if my VO2Max didn’t improve by more than the 37 to 50 discussed in this thread. However, without any data to support that it is entirely possible that the causal VO2Max improvement was less than I suspect.

Having said all of that, I think that increases beyond 25% are difficult even if it is plausible for people on a long term (multi-year) program. I would suggest that for people where an improvement from 37 to 50 was possible, it would likely be a 3 year consistent effort or thereabouts.

There are a lot of factors that I think would play into this such as genetics (especially muscle fibre type and injury resistance), starting body composition, training plan, other life stresses and many more.

The problem is most of the studies reflect a short period of time where the “gains” are pretty repeatable, however, these studies don’t consider long term training implications on VO2max. I’m of the belief (and I’m not the only one) based on personal experience that VO2max gains are typically understated as they don’t consider the long term changes that occur from long term consistent aerobic training.

50 may or may not be attainable for you, but depending on your race distance, I’d be more interested in why VO2max is the key metric you are looking at. If short course, fair enough, if long course, there are many other factors that come into play and VO2max is hardly the be all end all.

I’ve never really understood the not trainable thing, maybe someone can explain it better.

I agree with the weight comment. I also feel like it’ll be influenced by whatever sport the test takes place with. If you aren’t a runner and do a treadmill test….then train running for a bit and do the test again, won’t that usually increase what’s able to be done simply because your body adapts more to running?

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

A few of us were talking and I decided to post on ST, we recognized that VO2 Max and FTP are not the sole predictors of performance. We are all in our 50's soooooo :P And yes, we all acknowledge that the Olympic distance is a different ballgame.

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

my guess is that while absolute physiological vo2max may not be hugely trainable, your ability to express your genetic capability in the sort of tests used is. somewhat similar to the sub3 thread recently, you have a genetic potential which you will always be limited by and there is not much that training can do around that, but most people (even decent athletes) do not reach their genetic potential so training etc can make a significant impact on your practical vo2max, which is what actually correlates to performance