I stumbled across old Vo2Max test results from back when I was in High School and had the chance to go out to the Olympic training center for training and testing in the summer of 1989. The test was done in the swimming flume at the OTC using similar methodology as is done today. The coach who runs the Masters group that I swim/coach at is also a professor at the local U in Human performance or sports physiology so he has a solid understanding of these numbers. When he looked at my results he made a comment that swimming Vo2Max results are typically lower than Running or Cycling results and could be factored up by some number for comparison. I assume this is due to the fact that a person is not supporting their own body weight and the heart in not fighting gravity when pumping while swimming. So based on what he is saying if a person scores X Vo2Max while swimming they will Score X+Y while running or cycling.
This is the first time I have heard that the activity being done can affect the results. I have heard some crazy high numbers from elite level runners, cyclists and cross country skiers, sometimes well over 80ml/kg/min O2. But now that I think about it a bit I have never seen a swimming result above about 75, so this seems to back up his comments. So when we hear that a guy has a 8x Vo2max what is that result from? Is it while doing his best sport, or is there standard test like running against which everything can be standardized? Is there any easy conversion factor out there that would allow me to convert my swimming Vo2Max to a running or cycling Vo2Max? And yes i was hoping to see what I convert to if it can be easily done.
It has to do with the amount of muscle mass engaged in oxygen consumption. Obviously swimming uses smaller muscles, therefore less oxygen utilized. There is no easy conversion as the metabolic properties of the muscle (aerobic enzymes, capillary density etc…) are not necessarily equal due to different “fitness” in respective sports.
The reason XC skiiers see the highest values are because they are fully engaging upper AND lower body muscles at the same time–therefore a greater amount of muscle mass.
I didn’t think there would be an easy conversion out there. When I showed my number to Brian (the prof) he mentioned that since these were swimming results that moslt likely I would socre out 3-5 points higer for a running test. I assume that becasue he has test people both in the water and running, and often the same person in both sports he may have a feel for the typical difference bewtween sports.
VO2max is probably the most well known least understood number in sports. It is sports specific, so we can have a different number for each activity. XC skiers tend to be up there because of the whole body effort involved, however if you take a none skier and have them do it that way, they more than likely will no pop thier biggest number doing it. In general running is the best none sport specific test for the average persion. In all reality the value of the number in itself has no meaning, so it’s really a wash.
to build on what you said, cycling VO2max numbers can vary depending on if you you did it on a cycle ergometer in the lab (most likely) or outdoors wearing a portable analyzer riding your bike. It’s hard to engage the upper body muscles in a lab setting since the bike is usually fixed. One can usually get higher numbers during a sprint-like effort with a portable analyzer, outdoors climbing a hill.