5 ms·

Fortunately, this seems relatively simple to change (compared to other things with this magnitude of impact). It was a transformative experience to go from 40

Fortunately, this seems relatively simple to change (compared to other things with this magnitude of impact). It was a transformative experience to go from 40 VO2max to 57 (as reported by Apple Watch, and losing 30lbs on the way) over the past 12 months. The best part about it is that I didn't even have to give up anything - the extra energy I gained from 90-120 minutes of aerobics per day also had the effect of making everything else more efficient.

purplerabbit 2y ago
that’s an amazing change. Could you elaborate on your training regimen?
- Aperocky 2y ago
  It's a mixture of running and cycling and really less planning than what I should have. Generally, my runs are between 5-10K and rides are 30km/20mi ish. More days than not I'll do both, but on other days I only get one done due to time issues. Weekends are usually for longer rides. I average around 200km/130mi on the bike and 40-50km of running per week. I've had to build up to this level gradually so it started from a much lower volume but I've been able to keep it pretty consistent for this year. It's gotten to a point where if I don't do any exercise I would feel really bad physiologically so it drives me to go out everyday. But I essentially choose what to do at the hour and since most of the training is zone 2/endurance it doesn't matter too much.
jebarker 2y ago
40 to 57 is a huge increase in a year - kudos!
- Aperocky 2y ago
  Thank you! This post is a little braggy but it's also one of the best things I've did and I'm genuinely proud of it. The result and the process wildly exceeded my expectation at the time when I started last summer and it made me happier, more efficient, and even gave me time to reflect (since there's not much else you can do while going on a long ride/run) mentally. If anyone is thinking about it - give it a try! The starting months are the hardest, but once it gets going a positive feedback loop takes over. I've been able to convince some people in my life to start exercising when they saw me change so substantially in a single year.
mvkel 2y ago
You should know that vo2 measurements that aren't performed via gas exchange or blood measurement are a complete guess. The other thing is the denominator of vo2 is weight. So losing weight without working out at all will increase vo2
- rhplus 2y ago
  It really doesn’t matter for most amateurs trying to improve their health whether the metric is accurate or not. The huge benefit of fitness trackers is that a metric is a metric is a metric. Eat less, exercise more, sleep soundly - you can’t go wrong, and if the metric is steps, or HR, or pace, or calories burned, or (in this case) estimated VO2max and seeing improvements in those metrics relative to a baseline is a motivating factor then that’s all that matters. Well done to OP. Keep it up.
  - mvkel 2y ago
    I disagree. Weight loss doesn't automatically mean "healthier." Using vo2 as a metric of "health" would not be correct if weight loss is the sole attribution of vo2 gain. One can lose weight without doing a minute of exercise and vo2 would increase. If one is interested in getting healthier, I think it's well worth the time to learn about how the metrics work.
    - rhplus 2y ago
      My point is that for most adults in the world right now (western, industrialized, developing, modern, whatever) there is an obesity epidemic and any amount of focused self-care through exercise and diet will improve health outcomes. Eat less, exercise more. If an arbitrary metric on fitness tracker helps you reach that goal, then just do it.
  - milch 2y ago
    The problem with the VO2max metric is that there is no measurement of it outside of a few lab methods, certainly not in a fitness tracker, so they're estimating. It makes more sense to look at the other metrics that it CAN easily measure, like heart rate recovery to get a quantifiable and repeatable measurement. I agree for amateurs accuracy is not necessary, but repeatability is. If I weigh myself today and the scale says 10 lbs below my actual weight, and tomorrow it's 10lbs above my actual weight that's a problem. If it's always 10lbs below that's fine, the delta will be correct. You can't say that for VO2max you get out of a fitness tracker. My watch says my VO2max is 36.8 which would put me very strongly in the long term negative health effects bucket and well below average. Meanwhile Garmin claims it's 51 which would put me in the top 15% of my age group. It can't be both. They're just made up estimations, and following them blindly could be dangerous. What if someone's is going up even though they're not actually doing a healthy amount of exercise? Or someone's is going down or maintaining even though they are, causing them to fall into negative thought or behavioral patterns? Better to stick with some other data points
38 2y ago
2 hours a day is a ridiculous amount
- SamPatt 2y ago
  Why is two hours ridiculous? I find most people who devote themselves like this enjoy the process. If they enjoy it, it objectively improves their body, and they have the time - why not?
  - andoando 2y ago
    I definitely waste more time during the day than that lol. Happiest and most productive Ive been was when I was skating, riding a bike, dancing etc for hours every day.
  - throwaway2037 2y ago
    > Why is two hours ridiculous? Because it isn't sustainable, except for 0.1% of people.
- adrianN 2y ago
  Just my commute is about an hour of cycling per day and I do some other sports two to three times a week for about two hours. It's not that hard to average out to about two hours of activity per day.
  - dangmumwhore 2y ago
    [flagged]
- timeon 2y ago
  Not as ridiculous amount as average (and mine) screen time.
  - dukeyukey 2y ago
    Sure, but I get paid for most of my screen time. I can't pay my rent in time spent running.
johnfn 2y ago
What sort of workouts do you do? I've been trying to do the same thing, but I'm finding it difficult to get VO2max to go up consistently.
- Aperocky 2y ago
  Full aerobics with no strength training. So far I only do cycling and running, averaging to about 110~ minutes per day (with weekends having longer times and weekdays shorter) 80% or more of it is spent at Zone 2/Endurance where I try to keep my heart rate below 145.
  - DevX101 2y ago
    That’s pro level work volume. Congrats!
throwaway2037 2y ago
I love these kinds of posts. They are ridiculous. First: > Fortunately, this seems relatively simple to change Second: > the extra energy I gained from 90-120 minutes of aerobics per day Are you joking? You are asking average people to commit to 90-120 of c-v exercise per day? So, 7 days per week? This stuff is nonsense. Most people would quit after a week. I guess 99% of people could not sustain this for more than 3 months.
- lukas099 2y ago
  Yeah, I think the usgov-recommended guidelines of 150min/week (plus two strength training sessions) is a decent starting point thought.
- Aperocky 2y ago
  I still average more screen time on the phone.. The hard part is getting started. Once you start it's self-perpetuating. Zone 2 endurance aerobic exercise are in some way similar to an addiction but you'll need a certain volume to trigger it. It is a little braggy but I also consider this one of the best things I've did in my whole life - and I myself didn't remotely dreamed of this result when I started last year.
- bo1024 2y ago
  They did say "simple", not "easy"...
- emptyfile 2y ago
  [dead]
- timeon 2y ago
  You could already be running instead of spending time in this thread. With 30km bike commute you can scroll the web as much as before.
keybored 2y ago
Congrats. You’re an inspiration to me. :)
linux_devil 2y ago
Even if Vo2 is inaccurate on Apple watch , relative increase in your Vo2 is a positive metric. Kudos to you.
sandspar 2y ago
That's a massive change! It's realistic for an untrained person to expect a 15% change in a year with exercise; you went up almost 50%. What subjective changes have you noticed in your day to day?

purplerabbit 2y ago

that’s an amazing change. Could you elaborate on your training regimen?

Aperocky 2y ago
It's a mixture of running and cycling and really less planning than what I should have. Generally, my runs are between 5-10K and rides are 30km/20mi ish. More days than not I'll do both, but on other days I only get one done due to time issues. Weekends are usually for longer rides. I average around 200km/130mi on the bike and 40-50km of running per week. I've had to build up to this level gradually so it started from a much lower volume but I've been able to keep it pretty consistent for this year. It's gotten to a point where if I don't do any exercise I would feel really bad physiologically so it drives me to go out everyday. But I essentially choose what to do at the hour and since most of the training is zone 2/endurance it doesn't matter too much.

jebarker 2y ago

40 to 57 is a huge increase in a year - kudos!

Aperocky 2y ago
Thank you! This post is a little braggy but it's also one of the best things I've did and I'm genuinely proud of it. The result and the process wildly exceeded my expectation at the time when I started last summer and it made me happier, more efficient, and even gave me time to reflect (since there's not much else you can do while going on a long ride/run) mentally. If anyone is thinking about it - give it a try! The starting months are the hardest, but once it gets going a positive feedback loop takes over. I've been able to convince some people in my life to start exercising when they saw me change so substantially in a single year.

mvkel 2y ago

You should know that vo2 measurements that aren't performed via gas exchange or blood measurement are a complete guess. The other thing is the denominator of vo2 is weight. So losing weight without working out at all will increase vo2

rhplus 2y ago
It really doesn’t matter for most amateurs trying to improve their health whether the metric is accurate or not. The huge benefit of fitness trackers is that a metric is a metric is a metric. Eat less, exercise more, sleep soundly - you can’t go wrong, and if the metric is steps, or HR, or pace, or calories burned, or (in this case) estimated VO2max and seeing improvements in those metrics relative to a baseline is a motivating factor then that’s all that matters. Well done to OP. Keep it up.
- mvkel 2y ago
  I disagree. Weight loss doesn't automatically mean "healthier." Using vo2 as a metric of "health" would not be correct if weight loss is the sole attribution of vo2 gain. One can lose weight without doing a minute of exercise and vo2 would increase. If one is interested in getting healthier, I think it's well worth the time to learn about how the metrics work.
  - rhplus 2y ago
    My point is that for most adults in the world right now (western, industrialized, developing, modern, whatever) there is an obesity epidemic and any amount of focused self-care through exercise and diet will improve health outcomes. Eat less, exercise more. If an arbitrary metric on fitness tracker helps you reach that goal, then just do it.
- milch 2y ago
  The problem with the VO2max metric is that there is no measurement of it outside of a few lab methods, certainly not in a fitness tracker, so they're estimating. It makes more sense to look at the other metrics that it CAN easily measure, like heart rate recovery to get a quantifiable and repeatable measurement. I agree for amateurs accuracy is not necessary, but repeatability is. If I weigh myself today and the scale says 10 lbs below my actual weight, and tomorrow it's 10lbs above my actual weight that's a problem. If it's always 10lbs below that's fine, the delta will be correct. You can't say that for VO2max you get out of a fitness tracker. My watch says my VO2max is 36.8 which would put me very strongly in the long term negative health effects bucket and well below average. Meanwhile Garmin claims it's 51 which would put me in the top 15% of my age group. It can't be both. They're just made up estimations, and following them blindly could be dangerous. What if someone's is going up even though they're not actually doing a healthy amount of exercise? Or someone's is going down or maintaining even though they are, causing them to fall into negative thought or behavioral patterns? Better to stick with some other data points

38 2y ago

2 hours a day is a ridiculous amount

SamPatt 2y ago
Why is two hours ridiculous? I find most people who devote themselves like this enjoy the process. If they enjoy it, it objectively improves their body, and they have the time - why not?
- andoando 2y ago
  I definitely waste more time during the day than that lol. Happiest and most productive Ive been was when I was skating, riding a bike, dancing etc for hours every day.
- throwaway2037 2y ago
  > Why is two hours ridiculous? Because it isn't sustainable, except for 0.1% of people.
adrianN 2y ago
Just my commute is about an hour of cycling per day and I do some other sports two to three times a week for about two hours. It's not that hard to average out to about two hours of activity per day.
- dangmumwhore 2y ago
  [flagged]
timeon 2y ago
Not as ridiculous amount as average (and mine) screen time.
- dukeyukey 2y ago
  Sure, but I get paid for most of my screen time. I can't pay my rent in time spent running.

johnfn 2y ago

What sort of workouts do you do? I've been trying to do the same thing, but I'm finding it difficult to get VO2max to go up consistently.

Aperocky 2y ago
Full aerobics with no strength training. So far I only do cycling and running, averaging to about 110~ minutes per day (with weekends having longer times and weekdays shorter) 80% or more of it is spent at Zone 2/Endurance where I try to keep my heart rate below 145.
- DevX101 2y ago
  That’s pro level work volume. Congrats!

throwaway2037 2y ago

I love these kinds of posts. They are ridiculous. First: > Fortunately, this seems relatively simple to change Second: > the extra energy I gained from 90-120 minutes of aerobics per day Are you joking? You are asking average people to commit to 90-120 of c-v exercise per day? So, 7 days per week? This stuff is nonsense. Most people would quit after a week. I guess 99% of people could not sustain this for more than 3 months.

lukas099 2y ago
Yeah, I think the usgov-recommended guidelines of 150min/week (plus two strength training sessions) is a decent starting point thought.
Aperocky 2y ago
I still average more screen time on the phone.. The hard part is getting started. Once you start it's self-perpetuating. Zone 2 endurance aerobic exercise are in some way similar to an addiction but you'll need a certain volume to trigger it. It is a little braggy but I also consider this one of the best things I've did in my whole life - and I myself didn't remotely dreamed of this result when I started last year.
bo1024 2y ago
They did say "simple", not "easy"...
emptyfile 2y ago
[dead]
timeon 2y ago
You could already be running instead of spending time in this thread. With 30km bike commute you can scroll the web as much as before.

keybored 2y ago

Congrats. You’re an inspiration to me. :)

linux_devil 2y ago

Even if Vo2 is inaccurate on Apple watch , relative increase in your Vo2 is a positive metric. Kudos to you.

sandspar 2y ago

That's a massive change! It's realistic for an untrained person to expect a 15% change in a year with exercise; you went up almost 50%. What subjective changes have you noticed in your day to day?