VO2Max Workouts for Hikers, Runners, Cyclists and Swimmers

Last week I posted about the meaning of VO2Max and how to get an estimate of yours. And I left you hanging with your “But Rache, how do I Improve It?” questions. So here you go! A selection of workouts tailored to different endurance activities that can help you dial up your cardio engine’s power.

BTW, Learning about how to improve your cardio fitness for any sport or recreation activity is a great way to use a fitness coach. Schedule a free consultation with Rachel to explore a custom plan for your fitness and life.

Lots of folks tend to focus on steady state cardio thinking it will build lung and heart stamina. That is true of one kind of fitness, namely aerobic endurance, which we could think of as the floor of your cardiovascular ability. But that doesn’t push up the ceiling and create more fitness headroom in the way that VO2Max workouts do. To raise your cardio roof and build overall capacity, you need to get out of a steady state and work at higher levels of intensity followed by periods of recovery. This also trains your body to recover better, which is its own superpower for athletic development and longevity.

All of the workouts below follow an interval format of hard efforts followed by easy recovery (but not always total rest). Be forewarned that these workouts are pretty dang intense. You are aiming to get your heartrate into the 85-95% zone, or an 8.5-9.5 out of 10 on the effort scale, and keep it there for a few minutes. Some people have the will to pull this off, but having a trainer or coach present is helpful. Make sure you are cleared by your doctor for high intensity exercise before you take these on, and do a thorough warm up before you start any of them.

For you hikers and backpackers, VO2Max workouts take hiking to a much higher level. You can use a hike setting, wear a pack but really amp up your efforts on a good grade. After a warm up, increase your effort to very hard on a steady climb for 3-4 minutes, then recover for 3-4 minutes with easy walking. You can also do VO2Max training by doing a circuit training format of strength and cardio workouts, but you need to push yourself to hard efforts so you are staying in that 8.5-9.5 level of exertion. Whichever you choose, do 4-6 sets of hard effort intervals.

Runners & Cyclists, The tried and true workout format with a good base in research is the Norwegian 4 x 4. It consists of 4:00 of very hard effort followed by 4:00 of easy pace recovery done for four rounds which provides 16:00 total of time in the VO2Max zone. You’re shooting for an 8.5-9.5 effort on a scale of 10. You want to do it sustainably though, so not too hard out of the gate. Ideally, you hit a level you can hold for all four segments.

Another format I find a little easier to stomach is 12-16 rounds of :30 very hard effort with :15 easy spin or brisk walk, but not a complete rest.

Open-Water Swimmers, you can build VO2Max too, but it’s helpful to have a fitness watch that can signal you with a vibration at a specific distance, for example, every 100 meters. Another equipment hack for this higher intensity swimming is a center-mounted snorkel–not necessary, but it may relieve some anxiety about breathing hard in the water, and it may help swimmers increase their CO2 tolerance. The workout is 4 x 100 meters at 90% of your maximum 400 meter effort. Take only :15-:20 (yes, that’s seconds!) rest between 100s. Do a set of four and rest for 2 minutes before moving on to the next block of 4 x 100 meters. Do 4-5 blocks total.

No matter which options you choose, these workouts are intense. Limit them to one, mayyybe two a week. And keep on it consistently to see your VO2Max improve. You can repeat the benchmarking test in my previous post to see if your score has gone up.

Some of our Unstill Life outdoor workouts have high intensity options. Not everyone takes that option, and you need to be pretty focused on doing it. Talk to me about how you can use our workouts to increase your VO2Max–I’d love to help you get there! It’s powerful to see this increase in fitness and to know that you’re building capacity at your sports of choice, but also that you’re doing something that leads to a longer, better quality aging.