Dr. Vonda Wright

Yes. Our stroke volume, which is how much blood your heart releases per pump, the diffusion across your lungs, it all declines with age. unless you work on it. But why is that important? You're like, oh good, my VO2 max, why is that important? Here's why it's important.

There is a line called the fragility line, the frailty line, after which you can no longer take care of yourself, which none of us, it's hard to fathom now in midlife or in youth, But many 70, 80, 90-year-olds get to it. And what it means, with a VO2 max less than 18 for the man, less than 16 for the woman, which is the frailty line, you can't take care of yourself.

There is a line called the fragility line, the frailty line, after which you can no longer take care of yourself, which none of us, it's hard to fathom now in midlife or in youth, But many 70, 80, 90-year-olds get to it. And what it means, with a VO2 max less than 18 for the man, less than 16 for the woman, which is the frailty line, you can't take care of yourself.

You're going to have to move out of this house or move in with your children or, God forbid, move to a nursing home. Because if you can't get up from a chair, you can't take care of yourself. So here's how it goes. I usually give people my example just so the numbers mean something. So when I was 50, the last time I did my VO2 max, and it hurts. So people don't like to do it very often.

You're going to have to move out of this house or move in with your children or, God forbid, move to a nursing home. Because if you can't get up from a chair, you can't take care of yourself. So here's how it goes. I usually give people my example just so the numbers mean something. So when I was 50, the last time I did my VO2 max, and it hurts. So people don't like to do it very often.

At no point in my life, Will I cross the frailty line? So we got to work on that because you can increase your VO2 max so you never reach that frailty. So how do you do it? It's a different kind of working out. So sprinting, you sprint for 30 seconds and then you completely... recover four times, right? Nothing in between. No weights. You just get off the treadmill and you rest. You recover.

At no point in my life, Will I cross the frailty line? So we got to work on that because you can increase your VO2 max so you never reach that frailty. So how do you do it? It's a different kind of working out. So sprinting, you sprint for 30 seconds and then you completely... recover four times, right? Nothing in between. No weights. You just get off the treadmill and you rest. You recover.

Your heart rate comes back down. Takes me a couple minutes, two or three minutes. For VO2 max training, it's four minutes, as hard as you can go. So it's slower than your sprint, but it's still full out for four minutes. And then you only recover for four minutes, and then you do it again. Twice. Three times. So it's very stressful, but that's what will build your VO2 max.

Your heart rate comes back down. Takes me a couple minutes, two or three minutes. For VO2 max training, it's four minutes, as hard as you can go. So it's slower than your sprint, but it's still full out for four minutes. And then you only recover for four minutes, and then you do it again. Twice. Three times. So it's very stressful, but that's what will build your VO2 max.

So it seems like a lot to say it all at once, but once you layer it on, you do VO2 max once a week.

So it seems like a lot to say it all at once, but once you layer it on, you do VO2 max once a week.

Well, it's specific and mathematical because some brilliant PhD has figured out that this is how you do it. But I think that historically... When we had to hunt our food, not being able to get up out of a chair is a bad thing for hunter-gatherers, right? And so I think we would just get it in our lifestyle. We would be walking all day to forage. We would be stalking something.

Well, it's specific and mathematical because some brilliant PhD has figured out that this is how you do it. But I think that historically... When we had to hunt our food, not being able to get up out of a chair is a bad thing for hunter-gatherers, right? And so I think we would just get it in our lifestyle. We would be walking all day to forage. We would be stalking something.

And then we're sprinting to go catch it, right? I think it's the way we lived. And we don't live that way. So now we have to have this formula. Yeah.

And then we're sprinting to go catch it, right? I think it's the way we lived. And we don't live that way. So now we have to have this formula. Yeah.

If we do an analogy to a hunter, lioness will stalk their prey for a very long time and then they rush.

If we do an analogy to a hunter, lioness will stalk their prey for a very long time and then they rush.

Not most days.

Not most days.

Number one, let's give ourselves some grace that this is the way the human body is. Any person who's had a child is gonna be transformed. And that is just the way it is, right? Don't crucify yourself. That being said, if we're living in a time of excess energy all the time, the way that I've described for you, the high intensity energy