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What's a good VO2 max for a woman?

By GyroscopeUpdated November 14, 20267 sources

Above the middle for your decade is good, which is about 37 in your 20s, 28 in your 30s, 26 in your 40s, 23 in your 50s and 20 in your 60s. Compare only with women, since women’s numbers run about a quarter lower than men’s.

A lot of the “good VO2 max” lists online quote one set of numbers for everyone, or use men’s without saying so. Compare yourself with a husband or a running partner and you’ll feel unfit when you aren’t. A woman in her 40s at 30 sits at about the 70th percentile for women her age. A man in his 40s needs about 40 to rank the same. Garmin’s labels, which come from The Cooper Institute’s data, call that same 30 “Poor” for a woman in her 40s.

We’d ignore any chart that doesn’t split by sex and age, aim for the top half of your decade, and aim for the top quarter if you train.

The women’s chart

The table comes from the US FRIEND chart, built on lab treadmill tests of 6,714 healthy women, in ml/kg/min. “Low” is the bottom quarter, and the other columns show where each group starts.

The group names come from the Cleveland Clinic study of 122,007 treadmill tests. The 25th and 75th percentile columns are drawn on straight lines between FRIEND’s published tenths. These are typical ranges, and the Gyroscope app personalizes yours.

Why women’s numbers are lower

Women’s middle values sit 20 to 29 percent below men’s from the 20s to the 60s. Most of it is the delivery system. Physiologists at the University of Oregon, in a 2022 review, explain that women typically have smaller hearts and lungs and less hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in red blood cells. Max heart rate is about the same in both sexes, but a smaller heart pumps less blood per beat, so less oxygen reaches the muscles each minute.

Training raises it in women too. In eight small trials that gave untrained men and women the same plan, the men gained about 2 points more on average, which is one more reason to judge yourself only on the women’s chart.

Holding it over the years

A number that stays put climbs the chart. A woman at 30 sits at the 56th percentile in her 30s, the 70th in her 40s, the 84th in her 50s and above the 90th from 60. Her fitness age is 33 the whole time.

Further down the curve is the line Canadian physiologist Roy Shephard drew for independence in old age, about 15 for women, usually reached at 80 to 85. The US middle for women in their 80s is 15.4, right at that line.

A note on watches and pregnancy

Apple Watch gives its fitness levels from age 20, judged by age and sex, and came in about 6 points low in lab checks (see is Apple Watch VO2 max accurate?). If you’re pregnant, skip max tests and ask your doctor or midwife about hard sessions.

Put your number in the tool below for your percentile and fitness age, or take the quiz for a plan.