In the same people over time, VO₂max decline speeds up: 3–6% per decade in the 20s, over 20% from the 70s
Does VO₂max decline faster as you get older?
The finding
Decline per 10 years rose from 3–6% in the 20s and 30s to more than 20% from the 70s on. From the 40s, decline was larger in men.
- Authors
- Fleg JL, Morrell CH, Bos AG, et al.
- Published
- Circulation 112(5):674–682 · 2005
- Evidence
- Read in the primary source; numbers checked.
- Source
- doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.545459
How it was studied
Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging: 375 women and 435 men aged 21–87, free of heart disease, with repeated treadmill peak VO₂ tests; median follow-up 7.9 years.
The numbers
Rates were similar per kg of body weight and per kg of fat-free mass, and in every quartile of self-reported activity.
What it does not show
A healthy volunteer cohort with self-reported activity. That activity did not change the rate in this analysis does not mean training cannot change the trajectory.
What Longstanding does with it
This is the backcasting argument in one curve. Because decline speeds up late, the level you need at 85 has to be built well before 75. The app’s line follows the norms at each age rather than a flat rate.