What Is a Good VO2max? Charts by Age, Gender, Sport and Athlete Fitness

Whether a VO2max of 50 is good depends on your age and gender. Moreover, while average VO2max values tell you something about your health, athletes should compare their VO2max with other athletes, not the general population. That’s why in this article we provide numerous VO2max comparison charts, based on age and gender, for both athletes and nonathletes. BONUS: elite athlete VO2max records.

Before comparing your VO2max rating with VO2max normative values, first make sure you understand what VO2max is, and how it affects performance.

What is a good VO2max for my age?

A good VO2max is one above the median for your age and sex. In the FRIEND registry, which holds 16,278 treadmill tests of apparently healthy US adults, the median for men falls from 46.5 ml/kg/min at age 20-29 to 20.6 at 70-79, and for women from 36.6 to 17.2 (Kaminsky et al., 2022). The top 20% of each age group starts at the 80th percentile shown here.

VO2max in ml/kg/min from treadmill tests. Median is the 50th percentile, top 20% is the 80th percentile.

In this article

• Normative VO2max data by age and gender
• Is a VO2max of 50 good?
• Treadmill or cycling norms
• VO2max scores: women vs men
• VO2max values when aging: how to prevent a decline?
• What is a good VO2max for athletes - per sport?
• VO2max elite athletes
• How to test and increase your VO2max
• How accurate is a sports watch VO2max?
• Sources

Normative VO2max data by age and gender

When you want to know whether your VO2 max is average, good or bad, you need to take age and gender into account. Athletes should also compare their VO2max with other athletes, not the average population.

Before we have a closer look at how sex (male/female), age and sport affect VO2max normative data, let’s first have a look at the VO2max tables.

What is a good VO2max by age for males?

For men, the median VO2max in the FRIEND registry is 46.5 ml/kg/min at age 20-29, 39.7 at 30-39, 35.3 at 40-49 and 29.2 at 50-59 (Kaminsky et al., 2022). A value above the median for your age is above average for healthy men of that age.

Men who wonder whether they have a good VO2max can compare their own VO2max with the following norm values by age. Keep in mind that these VO2max scores are from apparently healthy adults, not from athlete groups. They tell you something about whether your VO2max is healthy, instead of race competitive. Scroll further down this article to get VO2max ranges for male athletes!

VO2max norms for men

Male VO2max percentiles by age in ml/kg/min, treadmill tests, n=9,564 men. Data from the FRIEND registry, 34 US laboratories, tests from 1968 to 2021 (Kaminsky et al., 2022).

What is a good VO2max by age for females?

For women, the median VO2max in the FRIEND registry is 36.6 ml/kg/min at age 20-29, 28.3 at 30-39, 25.7 at 40-49 and 22.9 at 50-59 (Kaminsky et al., 2022). A value above the median for your age is above average for healthy women of that age.

Women who want to know whether their VO2max is good for their age can compare their own VO2max with the following VO2max ranges by age. Keep in mind that these VO2max scores are from apparently healthy adults, not from athlete groups. They tell you something about whether your VO2max is healthy, instead of race competitive. Scroll further down this article to get VO2max ranges for female athletes!

VO2max norms for women

Female VO2max percentiles by age in ml/kg/min, treadmill tests, n=6,714 women. Data from the FRIEND registry, 34 US laboratories, tests from 1968 to 2021 (Kaminsky et al., 2022).

Is a VO2max of 50 good?

It depends on your age and sex. A VO2max of 50 ml/kg/min puts a man aged 20-29 between the 60th and 70th percentile, a man aged 40-49 between the 80th and 90th, and a man aged 60-69 above the 90th. For a woman, 50 ml/kg/min is above the 90th percentile in every age group.

Percentile band for each VO2max in ml/kg/min, read from the FRIEND treadmill percentiles above (Kaminsky et al., 2022).

Treadmill or cycling norms

VO2max norms depend on the test. In the FRIEND registry the median is lower on a cycle ergometer than on a treadmill in every age group, for men and for women (Kaminsky et al., 2022). Compare a cycling test with cycling norms.

Median (50th percentile) VO2max in ml/kg/min by test mode (Kaminsky et al., 2022).

Norms also differ between populations. In a German registry of 10,090 adults with primarily sedentary jobs, tested on a cycle ergometer, the median was 36 ml/kg/min for men and 30 for women at age 40-49, and 32 and 26 at age 50-59 (Rapp et al., 2018).

VO2max scores for children

When looking at the average relative VO2max scores for children, boys remain level at about 52 ml/kg/min, while girls show a downward slope. This is due to changes in body composition.

Relative VO2max values for children between age 6 and 17. Boys (solid), girls (dashed). [source]

Relative VO2max scores in children do not accurately reflect aerobic performance, since both girls and boys increase their aerobic performance, even though VO2max remains the same (boys) or decreases (girls). That’s why it might be better to look at absolute values.

The average absolute VO2max value of boys and girls remain similar until about age 12. From then on, the difference starts to grow, probably due to changes in body composition and daily physical activity levels.

Absolute VO2max values for children between age 6 and 17. Boys (solid), girls (dashed). [source]

VO2max scores: women vs men

As you noticed, men have higher VO2max values compared to women, for the same age and fitness.

Literature shows that women typically have a VO2max score 15% to 30% below VO2max values of male counterparts. This is partly due to extra body fat and lower hemoglobin concentrations.

However, highly trained female endurance athletes have VO2max values that are much closer to those of highly trained male endurance athletes i.e. only about 10% lower.

Also: the VO2max of physically active females generally exceeds those of sedentary males.

In the FRIEND registry the median for women is 17% to 29% below the median for men in the age groups from 20-29 to 70-79 (Kaminsky et al., 2022).

Absolute and relative VO2max values

When comparing VO2max values, it’s important to note whether you express VO2max in absolute values or relative values.

The difference in VO2max between men and women is largest when looking at absolute VO2max (liters per minute, L/min). The difference becomes smaller when looking at relative VO2max (milliliters per kg body weight per minute, ml/kg/min), and even smaller when expressing aerobic capacity by fat-free body mass (milliliters per kg fat-free body weight per minute, ml/kg FFM/min).

VO2max values when aging: how to prevent a decline?

On average VO2max declines roughly 1% per year (0.4-0.5 ml/kg) or 10% per decade in adult men and women, starting at the age of 25. Note that this could also be partly caused by an increase in weight, since we’re talking about a VO2max relative to bodyweight.

The FRIEND data show an average decline of 13.5% per decade (4.0 ml/kg/min) on a treadmill and 16.4% per decade (4.3 ml/kg/min) on a cycle ergometer over six decades (Kaminsky et al., 2022). Longitudinal data show that the decline is not linear: the rate of decline accelerated from 3% to 6% per 10 years in the 20s and 30s to more than 20% per 10 years in the 70s and beyond (Fleg et al., 2005).

There’s a difference between sedentary and active individuals: sedentary people lose their maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) twice as fast as active people.

When you maintain a physically active lifestyle and healthy body composition, your average decline can be minimized to about 0.25 ml/kg/min per year. However, you can’t fully prevent an age related decline in aerobic power with aging.

That said, the effect of your physical activity level influences VO2max greater than age per se. As a result, elderly can still increase their VO2max:

After 9 months of endurance training men aged 63 ±3 years were able to significantly increase their VO2max by 19% (from 2.35 L/min to 2.8 L/min). Women aged 64 ± 3 years were able to significantly increase their VO2max by 22% (from 1.36 L/min to 1.66 L/min).

VO2max and long-term health

VO2max is one of the strongest physiological predictors of long-term health and all-cause mortality. Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is consistently associated with a lower risk of premature death and cardiovascular disease.

In observational cohorts, cardiorespiratory fitness is inversely associated with long-term all-cause mortality, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 5.04 for low versus elite fitness among 122,007 patients (Mandsager et al., 2018; Kodama et al., 2009). An overview of meta-analyses covering over 20.9 million observations from 199 cohort studies reports a hazard ratio of 0.47 for all-cause mortality in high versus low fitness (Lang et al., 2024).

If longevity, healthspan, lifespan or all-cause mortality are relevant outcomes, VO2max should be part of the physiological assessment.

What is a good VO2max for athletes - per sport?

On average, a good VO2max for athletes ranges between 40-60 ml/kg/min.

Athletes who want to know if they have a good VO2max can not rely on previous VO2max charts, because those were based on the general population.

When you’re a runner or cyclist, you shouldn’t compare your VO2max to the average VO2max. Instead you should be interested in the VO2max for athletes, preferably per sport.

When using the INSCYD performance software, you automatically see whether your VO2max is low, average, good or high, compared to other athletes in your sport. It takes several things into account:

• Gender: male vs female
• Sport: e.g. football players usually have a lower VO2max than XC skiers
• Fitness level: e.g. recreational, amateur and professional

INSCYD also enables you to create your own VO2max comparison group. For instance when you coach a team. You can easily compare the VO2max values within your team.

For coaches and labs

VO2max without a metabolic cart

INSCYD calculates VO2max from a short physiological testing protocol using power or speed, blood lactate and body composition. In a nutshell: the same testing time can provide VO2max plus the additional metabolic parameters required for performance analysis, without a metabolic cart and at a fraction of the equipment cost.

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Here’s a list of sports, with common VO2max values for athletes, based on the literature. The VO2max tables are separated between male athletes and female athletes and show age ranges.

VO2max for male athletes by age and sport

Representative ranges of VO2max values for male athletes by age and sport.

VO2max for female athletes by age and sport

Representative ranges of VO2max values for female athletes by age and sport

VO2max elite athletes

Elite athletes nearly double the VO2max of a sedentary person (!) Curious about the VO2max world records of professional athletes? Here’s a list of highest VO2max recorded in pro athletes:

VO2max of elite athletes - males

VO2max of elite athletes - females

How to test and increase your VO2max

Don’t know your VO2max yet? Here’s how to calculate or measure your VO2max outside a lab. You can now compare your VO2max with the norm VO2max values in the tables of this article.

How to measure VO2max

The traditional way to measure VO2max is through indirect calorimetry using a metabolic cart or VO2 analyzer. VO2max can also be determined without directly measuring respiratory gases. INSCYD calculates VO2max from a short physiological testing protocol using power or speed, blood lactate and body composition. The method has been validated in peer reviewed science against laboratory-measured VO2max showing no statistically significant differences.

VO2max can even be assessed without blood lactate measurements or a laboratory visit.

How accurate is a sports watch VO2max?

A sports watch estimates VO2max. In a meta-analysis of 14 validation studies, wearables using exercise-based algorithms showed a bias of -0.09 ml/kg/min with limits of agreement of -9.92 to 9.74 ml/kg/min, and wearables using resting data overestimated VO2max by 2.17 ml/kg/min with limits of agreement of -13.07 to 17.41 ml/kg/min (Molina-Garcia et al., 2022). So a group average can be close while a single reading can sit about 10 ml/kg/min above or below the lab value. The percentile tables in this article come from measured tests.

Not happy with your current VO2max? No problem! Here’s how to increase your VO2max. Fun fact: the more sedentary you are, the larger the increase in VO2max usually is after training. Untrained people increase their VO2max by 15% to 20% on average, after a 20 week training program. VO2max intervals are one way to do that effectively.

Whitepaper

Even if you already have a high VO2max, your performance can continue to improve without increasing your VO2max. This got some scientists to wonder whether VO2max actually matters. In summary: it does, but there are more performance metrics that matter.

There is one simple way to learn whether you should be working on your VO2max to improve health and sport performance, or whether you should focus on other physiological aspects. The INSCYD metabolic test answers all these practical questions.

For coaches and labs

A complete picture of an athlete’s physiology

If lactate profiles are used to evaluate training adaptations or compare athletes, VO2max provides essential context for correctly interpreting why the lactate curve has shifted.

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Sources

• Kaminsky LA, Arena R, Myers J, et al. Updated Reference Standards for Cardiorespiratory Fitness Measured with Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing: Data from the FRIEND Registry. Mayo Clin Proc. 2022;97(2):285-293. doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2021.08.020
• Rapp D, Scharhag J, Wagenpfeil S, Scholl J. Reference values for peak oxygen uptake: cross-sectional analysis of cycle ergometry-based cardiopulmonary exercise tests of 10 090 adult German volunteers from the Prevention First Registry. BMJ Open. 2018;8(3):e018697. doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018697
• Fleg JL, Morrell CH, Bos AG, et al. Accelerated longitudinal decline of aerobic capacity in healthy older adults. Circulation. 2005;112(5):674-682. doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.545459
• Mandsager K, Harb S, Cremer P, et al. Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Long-term Mortality Among Adults Undergoing Exercise Treadmill Testing. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(6):e183605. doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.3605
• Kodama S, Saito K, Tanaka S, et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness as a quantitative predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events in healthy men and women: a meta-analysis. JAMA. 2009;301(19):2024-2035. doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.681
• Lang JJ, Prince SA, Merucci K, et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness is a strong and consistent predictor of morbidity and mortality among adults: an overview of meta-analyses representing over 20.9 million observations from 199 unique cohort studies. Br J Sports Med. 2024;58(10):556-566. doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2023-107849
• Molina-Garcia P, Notbohm HL, Schumann M, et al. Validity of Estimating the Maximal Oxygen Consumption by Consumer Wearables: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis and Expert Statement of the INTERLIVE Network. Sports Med. 2022;52(7):1577-1597. doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01639-y
• Krahenbuhl GS, Skinner JS, Kohrt WM. Developmental aspects of maximal aerobic power in children. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 1985;13:503-538. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3891374/
• Spina RJ, Ogawa T, Kohrt WM, Martin WH 3rd, Holloszy JO, Ehsani AA. Differences in cardiovascular adaptations to endurance exercise training between older men and women. J Appl Physiol. 1993;75(2):849-855. doi.org/10.1152/jappl.1993.75.2.849