Recovery is now as important as training in elite sport, but where does VO2 max fit into the conversation? Using sports science, this feature examines how aerobic fitness may influence everything from post-run recovery to overtraining.
Fitness watches and wearable tech have turned VO2 max into one of sport’s biggest buzzwords. From marathon runners to gym-goers, athletes are increasingly checking the number on their wrist to judge how fit they are. But beyond performance, VO2 max may also reveal something just as important in sport: how well the body recovers.
Clare Marsh, a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at the University of Salford, believes VO2 max can have an impact on how effectively athletes recover from intense training and competition.
“Somebody with a high VO2 max can recover better than somebody that’s going to have a low VO2 max,” she says.
VO2 max stands for the maximum volume of oxygen that your body can use during exercise. It can be measured during exhaustive testing in a specialist exercise physiology laboratory. Athletes wear a respiratory mask while exercising on a treadmill or bike as the intensity increases until exhaustion.
“That peak measure [during the test] is how much oxygen you can use maximally,” she says.
The fitter the athlete, the more oxygen they can utilise. The number people see as their VO2 max score is the number of millilitres per kilogram of body mass per minute.
“I would say males, females – very, very good runners – you’re looking at anything from 70 upwards. The fittest people are actually probably cross-country skiers.
“Somebody that’s unfit of a similar age, it’s going to be less than 40, probably less than 35 even.”
For Marsh, the recovery link comes down to training adaptation. Athletes with higher VO2 max scores tend to train more frequently and expose their bodies to regular physical stress, meaning recovery becomes part of their conditioning.
“Because they’re training so regularly, they’re just used to recovering quickly,” she says. “If you think about somebody who’s very unfit and has a low VO2 max, if they were to exert themselves, they’d probably find they need more recovery time because they’re untrained.”
That adaptation can be crucial in modern sport, where recovery windows between matches and sessions are often short. A player capable of recovering efficiently can train harder, compete more consistently and reduce fatigue over time.
Marsh also pointed to the physiological advantages that underpin high VO2 max scores. Better cardiac output, increased blood volume and improved oxygen delivery all contribute to performance and recovery alike.
“A very fit person will have higher cardiac output,” she says. “They can pump out more blood. Blood carries oxygen, so therefore you’ve got a bigger amount of oxygen being delivered.”
However, she warned that elite fitness does not remove the need for recovery. In fact, highly trained athletes can sometimes neglect it.
“People with very high fitness probably do too much training and don’t recover enough,” Marsh says. “There is a risk of over-training or over-reaching.”
Overtraining syndrome (OTS) can leave athletes fatigued, mentally drained and more vulnerable to illness or injury. It highlights the importance of balancing training load with adequate rest and recovery strategies.
However, Marsh notes that VO2 max is not only used in elite sport. Hospitals also use it clinically to assess whether patients are fit enough to recover from major surgery.
“If they’re very poorly conditioned, they are much less likely to do the surgery,” she says. “The recovery is not as good as somebody who would have better conditioning.”
This wider application reinforces an important point: VO2 max is not simply about athletic performance. Whether recovering from an intense training block, competition, or even illness, aerobic fitness may play a significant role in how effectively the body bounces back.
