Garmin VO₂ Max fitness age

[orangeguy]

Well yesterday I reached the grand old age of 66. It was a bit of shock to realise I was actually this old, trying to positive I thought some good news was I'm going to be getting my pension and then my Garmin really made me happy me today when I checked my VO₂ Max. It seems to think I have a fitness age of 20!! 😂😂😂 I don't actually believe that or feel like a 20 year old but it certainly cheered me up! 😂😂😂 Have a great running weekend everybody 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️😀👍

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10]

Happy 20th birthday to you orangeguy, although you are actually 66, it's your fitness age that is 20, you must be very happy about that,

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to AlMorr]

Well I don't really take it seriously 😄 I spent this morning working in the garden and came in feeling shattered, not like a 20 year old at all. I think perhaps I've got gardening age of 76! 😂😂😂😂

[AlMorr Ambassador Graduate10 in reply to orangeguy]

👍

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to orangeguy]

Haha, I love that !'A gardening age of 76' 🤣🤣🤣

[Yesletsgo Graduate10]

Happy birthday, for 66 rotations of the planet, VO2 of 20 or whatever the number is in your head that you automatically think of when asked 'how old are you?' (which in my case is a lot different to the number they're expecting).

You must be very fit, the VO2 has only knocked 20 years off my age!!

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

I really don't think its all that accurate, my VO₂ on the Garmin varies from 40 to about 45 normally. I've never even noticed the fitness age until now, I don't think I really feel 66 but I certainly don't feel like 20 either unfortunately 😂😂

[Yesletsgo Graduate10 in reply to orangeguy]

My rule is: if I like the numbers they're accurate, if not, they're not 😂

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to Yesletsgo]

👍😂😂😂

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to Yesletsgo]

Me too!

[OldManRunning Graduate10]

orange guy you just deflated my bubble. I was feeling young as a 51 year old 67 year old according to VO2 now I feel everyone of my 51 virtual years 😂 😂 😂

[Balanus3 in reply to OldManRunning]

I doubt it is that accurate but it seems consistent…when I’m fitter it goes up a tad and conversely when I’ve not been exercising so much it shows on my VO2 max. It can’t be far off though as, until last year, I had an annual HSE medical which included a VO2 max test which gave result not far off from the garmin…in fact often giving a better reading than the garmin. I’m 67 and also have a VO2max of 45, so greetings fellow 20year old!

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to Balanus3]

I totally agree about the accuracy, but its good for morale but not to be taken to seriously I think 😀

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to orangeguy]

Probably more accurate than we may imagine.. I did a fair bit of reading up on it..after I found out what all of the alerts on my latest Garmin kept flashing at me meant !

My results are consistent..Fitness age 47...I am 73. It hasn't altered.

Same with my VO2 max..

34 and excellent..top 10% of my age group.

I'll take that! It does wonders for the morale!🤣🏃‍♀️🤣🏃‍♀️

[Instructor57 Graduate10 in reply to Oldfloss]

It's actually quite accurate according to several reports

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to Instructor57]

I think the whole thing is strange, when I had a vivoactive 4 my fitness age was 47 then I changed to a venu 2 plus and the V02MAX was the same but the fitness age was 63 it took minutes to de link the old one and get the new one up and running, and I ages in those few minutes

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to Instructor57]

That's what I had read..

[rayvinloon Graduate10 in reply to Balanus3]

Hi just interested why you think it's not that accurate but was similar to your "proper" vo2 max test surely that proves it is pretty accurate

[Balanus3 in reply to rayvinloon]

yes, I didn’t explain very well. A “proper” vo2 max test is an involved and time consuming process. Anything else is at best a proxy for the test. All I’m saying is that I don’t believe that when my garmin gives a measure of, say, 46…which it did yesterday, that I would get the same score in a laboratory setting. However I do track what my garmin says as it seems to track increases and decreases in fitness pretty well and, on once yearly measure by my HSE doctor it isn’t wildly different, last time the garmin said 47 and my doc said 50. Some years the garmin is higher, sometimes lower so it probably isn’t “accurate” but it seems to be in the ball park area.

[rayvinloon Graduate10 in reply to Balanus3]

Hi Balanus3, thanks for your quick reply, that's interesting I've often wondered how accurate the reading is it surprises me the Garmin reading is lower than the proper test I always assumed if I had the proper test I would be disappointed with the reading compared to my Garmin reading but maybe not, all the best...

[Sybilw Graduate10]

Congratulations to you. I love VO2 max also. When I was running regularly I had a similar number - and more importantly, lower than my son in law! I lapsed running but was shamed into going back to it when I slipped back to nearly ‘50’!! I’m 68 😂 The pinch of salt is more like a tablespoon.

[HeavyFoot Graduate10]

yes, take that o.g. I’m happy to see 10 years off my real age 🕺

[orangeguy Graduate10]

Just as bit of an update to this; I have been reading about how Garmin calculates VO2 max, I think a lot of it must be average heart-rate. I notice when I'm tired my heart-rate goes up and my VO2 max on the Garmin comes down, this is even if I am running at my normal pace (around 6.5 per km). I've certainly not been doing any great distances recently or setting any personal best speed records but my average heart-rate on a normal run is usually around 135bpm. On my first run after getting over covid my average heart-rate was a rather frightening 180bpm, that took my Garmin VO2 max down to 40 in just one 3k run.

[XenaZelda]

my VO2 max has gone up to 34 from 29 6 months ago, it says my fitness age is now 49 (and I am 60) so even if it’s not accurate it can only be a good thing because it makes us feel younger and fitter and there’s nothing wrong with that 😃

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to XenaZelda]

I totally agree 😀 . . . I don't look or feel like a 20 year old but if Garmin thinks I do that's fine with me 😂😂😂

[Oldfloss Administrator 60minGraduate in reply to orangeguy]

Whereas I, as a 73 year old,look just as I did in my 30s...(And that, can be taken with the largest pinch if salt, ever) !!!!!

[bradders0807]

I’m 48, my Garmin fitness age is 58.

I’m hoping it’s because I’ve only had it a couple of weeks and it needs a bit more data before it gets accurate !!!

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate]

Crikey, my fitness age is 63 which is a bit discouraging

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

Just out of interest what is your average heart rate normally on a run?, I'm sure this the thing that effects it most

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to orangeguy]

Depends on how fast I run and how long. It's quite high, so, sprint intervals it reaches 170 and slow plod 150, I've wondered about it but have a clean bill of health, for various reasons I've had ultra sounds, ecg's MRI several times and CT scans, doctors prodded and poked me and can find nothing wrong. Obviously we are all a bit twitchy at the moment, waiting for a catastrophe to happen to another if us, but as long as I feel ok I run, garden etc, Interestingly it was a bit lower when I smoked but then I weighed less then too although the stop smoking weight is melting slowly.

There's a theory that Garmin's pick up cadence and wrist heartrate isn't perfectly accurate and I'm sticking with that because I'm short I have a high cadence

[orangeguy Graduate10 in reply to SueAppleRun]

As long as you are healthy that's the most important thing. I notice if I'm tired or not quite 100%, even if my time and pace are normal but my heart rate is up to what is more than normal for me the VO2 max drops. I think heart rates vary from one person to another, however I was a bit worried by my 180+ heart rate on my first post covid run, but back my normal 130 now thankfully.

[SueAppleRun Graduate10 60minGraduate in reply to orangeguy]

I remember my first C25k run and heartrate topped 185, so I checked it out and slowed down,

[Dexy5 Graduate10]

Me too   orangeguy . I don’t believe it either but I will enjoy it while it keeps telling me.

[PeggySusi]

You are orange - I am green.. With envy! I’m also 66 and my Garmin age has varied up and down this year from 49 to 51. Before I had Covid 18 months ago it was 42 - I keep hoping it will go down again.. and hoping even more that it won’t increase..🤞

Congratulations on your fitness, and wishing you, belatedly, happy birthday 😊

[rayvinloon Graduate10]

Hi I'm the same age and my Garmin tells me my fitness age is 20, it does give me a boost and keeps me motivated, I'm not sure on your heart rate theory though because it doesn't matter how fast I run or how high my heart rate rises my vo2 max doesn't vary by more than a point over months, happy running 👍🙂