VO2 Max is the highest rate at which your body can use oxygen during hard exercise, and it’s one of the most validated fitness metrics there is.
The Ultrahuman Ring has always estimated VO2 Max, so members get a read on this metric without ever needing to book a lab test.
That estimate has now been upgraded, and it’s more precise than ever.
Read on for what’s changed, and how it could affect your scores.
What’s new
The gold standard for measuring VO2 max is cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). You might have seen the test before, which involves pushing to exhaustion on a treadmill or bike while a mask measures the oxygen you breathe. Almost nobody has access to this in daily life, which is exactly why a good passive estimate matters.
Ultrahuman’s new VO2 Max model has been overhauled to be evem more accurate. It’s now calibrated directly against CPET tests, run on 101 people at the Ultrahuman Performance Lab .
Because Ultrahuman’s new model is calibrated directly against real CPET, it’s even more accurate at picking up key differences in physiology.
It means that 6 in 10 VO2 Max estimates land within 5 points of the CPET-measured value, and about 9 in 10 land within 10 points.
The full methodology is posted as a preprint , currently under review at a peer-reviewed journal and not yet peer-reviewed itself.
Why your VO2 Max score may change
Because the new model is calibrated against CPET rather than the previous estimation approach, the number itself reads differently for many people.
How the model classifies fitness tier was also refined, which can move some scores in either direction.
Don’t compare your new number directly to your old one – they’re calibrated against different standards. Your VO2 Max trend going forward is simply more accurate.
Conclusion
VO2 max remains one of the strongest predictors of long-term health available. The Ultrahuman Ring’s VO2 Max estimate is now calibrated against the same gold-standard test used in exercise labs. Read the trend over months rather than any single reading.
Reviewed by Mukul Mittal, MD.
THE AUTHOR
