VO2 Max falling

[Oliver Hardy]

Two months ago I had a VO2 max reading of 34, it was pretty constant according to my Garmin tracker.

I acquired a dog and been walking him 6kms every day (well 6 days a week). It takes me an hour to cover the course, don't get breathless or tired, lost 12kgs, yet my VO2 scores has gone down to 27! According to the tracker my stress levels are up and my sleep quality is down.

Wasn't exercise supposed to be good for you?

Can anyone explain/advice?

[mcelliott]

Oliver Hardy said:

Two months ago I had a VO2 max reading of 34, it was pretty constant according to my Garmin tracker.

I acquired a dog and been walking him 6kms every day (well 6 days a week). It takes me an hour to cover the course, don't get breathless or tired, lost 12kgs, yet my VO2 scores has gone down to 27! According to the tracker my stress levels are up and my sleep quality is down.

Wasn't exercise supposed to be good for you?

Can anyone explain/advice?

Exercise is good for you, getting lost in meaningless data isn't.

[S100HP]

Oliver Hardy said:

Two months ago I had a VO2 max reading of 34, it was pretty constant according to my Garmin tracker.

I acquired a dog and been walking him 6kms every day (well 6 days a week). It takes me an hour to cover the course, don't get breathless or tired, lost 12kgs, yet my VO2 scores has gone down to 27! According to the tracker my stress levels are up and my sleep quality is down.

Wasn't exercise supposed to be good for you?

Can anyone explain/advice?

It's just an estimate. Garmin need 2x runs outside with a 14 day period to accurately estimate the VO2 max, doing it by walking is relatively new, and can only be accurately calculated if you get your heart rate over 70% for a 10min period.

Basically, go for a run and it'll calculate correctly.

[Oliver Hardy]

Thanks, was starting to think that soon my VO2 Max reading will be zero!

[oddman]

mcelliott said:

Oliver Hardy said:

Two months ago I had a VO2 max reading of 34, it was pretty constant according to my Garmin tracker.

I acquired a dog and been walking him 6kms every day (well 6 days a week). It takes me an hour to cover the course, don't get breathless or tired, lost 12kgs, yet my VO2 scores has gone down to 27! According to the tracker my stress levels are up and my sleep quality is down.

Wasn't exercise supposed to be good for you?

Can anyone explain/advice?

Exercise is good for you, getting lost in meaningless data isn't.

This

To make a car comparison, what you are doing is the asking why the top speed of your car has dropped by 20% because a dodgy diagnostic system told you so without you trying to drive it at that speed.

My guess is the Garmin algorithm started off at the mean for your age and your current exercise - whilst very healthy and makes you fit in an everyday meaning of the word - is not sufficient to raise VO2max. In essence the Garmin doesn't know that what you are doing isn't the maximum you are capable of because it's the only data it has to go on. If 6km/h is your max speed the Garmin is interpreting this as a pretty low maximum oxygen uptake.

You also need to keep updating your weight because VO2max is oxygen uptake divided by weight in kilos

My own Garmin VO2 max varies between 45 and 53 and at my fittest, whilst I am a bit stronger heart/lung wise, the big difference is that I'm 10% lighter when race fit.