Whoop Can Now Estimate Your VO2 Max

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Whoop, the screenless watchband-like wearable that beat out Oura in my non-watch fitness tracker showdown, has just added a VO2 max feature to its app. Now, just like Garmin, Apple Watch, and others, it can put a number on your cardio fitness and tell you how it changes over time. 

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What is VO2 max again? 

VO2 max is a measure of cardiovascular (or aerobic) fitness. There are other types of measurements that can give you a sense of how fit you are, but VO2 max is one of the simpler metrics to follow. It’s a two-digit number, and the higher it is, the fitter you are. A sedentary person might have a VO2 max around 20; an athlete might have one over 50. 

The technical definition is that it’s the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use per minute while exercising, divided by your body weight. The higher that number, the better your heart and lungs are at getting oxygen to your muscles, and the better your muscles are at using energy for exercise. 

How is VO2 max measured? 

To get a true VO2 max reading, you need to take a test in an exercise lab with a max that measures the amount of oxygen you’re breathing. Obviously, a wearable can’t provide that on its own. But wearables like Whoop, Garmin watches, and Apple Watches can estimate your cardio fitness through other means. 

Most commonly, they’ll compare your heart rate to how quickly you can run or walk. If you can jog along at a pretty fast clip while your heart rate is low, you’re probably pretty fit and have a high VO2 max. On the other hand, if your heart rate soars when you’re just trying to go out for an easy walk, you probably have low cardio fitness and thus a low VO2 max. That’s the general idea, anyway—the exact calculation will vary from one device to another. 

How Whoop uses VO2 max

I expected Whoop to use the same walking/running-based type of calculation as the other wearables I’m familiar with, but the company’s description makes it sound like something more complicated (and harder to verify) is going on. 

“Whoop estimates your VO2 Max using a proprietary algorithm trained on gold-standard laboratory data from a diverse set of Whoop members,” it says. That’s not very helpful. It continues: “To calculate your score, the algorithm factors your continuous physiological data (including resting heart rate and heart rate variability), your exercise patterns, and GPS-tracked performance metrics (when enabled). It also accounts for how VO2 Max naturally changes with age and incorporates physical factors that influence oxygen utilization, like height, weight, and biological sex.”

So GPS-tracked activities can be included in the calculation, but apparently aren’t necessary. This makes me wonder what the Whoop band is actually measuring to determine your VO2 max—or is it just doing some kind of AI-powered guess at what people with your metrics tend to have as their VO2 max? I’ve reached out to the company and will update if it is able to give me more information. 

I don’t have a VO2 max in my Whoop app at the moment, since it requires 14 recoveries (nights of sleep, basically) to give you that information, and I haven’t been wearing my Whoop lately.

Where to find your VO2 max in the Whoop app

According to Whoop support, you can find this feature on the Strain tab. By tapping “VO2 max” you can view monthly or six-month trends. Users on Reddit have reported that it’s been rolling out over the past few days, and that Whoop has told them everybody should have it by March 13 (today). 

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