What exactly is your VO₂ max? And… how do you increase it? Your VO₂ max is just the maximum amount of oxygen your body can actually use during hard exercise And yes, it does matter In a study of over 122,000 people, having a low VO2 max was associated with a greater risk of death than smoking, coronary artery disease, or even type 2 diabetes And improving it can start pretty simply: Just spending 30-45 minutes in zone 2 a few times per week can make a really big difference (getting your HR between 60-70% of your Max HR) For most people that’s as simple as a fast or incline walk, just whatever gets your breathing up while still feeling controlled But if you’re already intermediate to advanced, a really cool technique is called the Norwegian 4x4 done 2-3x per week: 
4 minutes hard/max effort
3 minutes recovery (but keep moving)
Repeated for a total of 4 rounds The hard intervals should bring you to roughly 85–95% of your max heart rate by the end And this could be done running/on a treadmill, or really with any form of cardio you enjoy the most (or hate the least) My friend @dremilydow has a great video going way deeper into what’s actually happening inside your body during a VO₂ test on her page if you’re more interested in the science P.S. If you want to estimate what your VO₂ max is without doing the test in a lab with tubes on your face, I made a free calculator in my bio Study from video: PMID: 30646252 #vo2max #gym #muscle #cardio #marathon