Age-related Decline In VO2max: When Activities of Daily Living Become Athletic Events

If you are familiar with exercise physiology, you might think that VO2max is only achieved during intense athletic events or severe bouts of formal aerobic exercise. Certainly, VO2max is relevant to these types of athletic events, but, because VO2max decreases with age, it is also related to the performance of everyday activities for the elderly. As you will see in this video, because VO2max decreases so much with age, tasks of daily living, like carrying groceries or climbing stairs, become as taxing as athletic events performed in youth. If you are unfit, the VO2 required to sustainably perform things like climbing stairs or walking uphill, may exceed your VO2max, making such tasks very unsustainable. Importantly, exercise training and staying healthy can keep your VO2max higher than most tasks of daily living as you age. In other words, if you stay fit, you can stay functional.