How to improve my VO2 Max?

[Draeger]

I consider myself pretty fit and in good shape. I mountain bike and ride road bikes. I do gym sessions at work 4 or 5 times a week primarily consisting of cardio on a Lifecycle HR stationary bike and Pilates. I don't really do any free weight or machine weight based training. Running or anything which isn't low impact is not an option for me as I have hopeless knee joints, one of which I had a meniscectomy on in the last two months to remove a large quantity of cartilage. The other knee is showing similar symptoms so running or similar exercise is off the menu. Even tried Insanity recently with some of the guys on my shift at work but certain aspects of the impact side of it was killing the knee joints.

I'd like to improve my VO2 Max as its fairly important to be as efficient in that area as possible for me because of my job. I'd like to have a go at improving this based around cycling whether that be on the stationary bike or actually out on the road/trails. Any pointers from you experts out there? What has worked for you? Been reading up about Tabata and various other HIT based techniques but I'm a bit baffled by what does and what doesnt get results.

FWIW my stats are 43 years of age, 6'0 height and weigh 84kg. My resting HR hovers around 70-80 and I believe my target HR is approx 142? On the Lifecycle I'm usually doing routines based on its 'Cardio' programs - 50 or 60 mins which builds me up to my target HR and keeps me there for about 30km with a cool down at the end. Then it's off the bike for a 30-40 min Pilates session. Been doing this pretty much once a gym session 4/5 times a week plus additional outside sessions on the mountain bike which really gets the heart rate pumping way above my target HR albeit only for shortish parts of my route at a time. I'm sure its all doing me good as I feel fitter than when I began a couple of months ago after my knee surgery and have lost a good few kg in that timeframe but I'm pretty sure the 30km in 50 mins isn't going to increase my VO2 Max, amirite?

Any advice greatly appreciated chaps.

 

[mrthingyx]

VO2-max can be improved in a number of ways, although my preferred preference - depending on what your after - is a mix of High Intensity Interval Training and long, low-tempo work.

However, I am more concerned about your knees: a lot of athletic knee problems derive from muscular imbalances and lack of both ankle and hip mobility, underpinned by poor core strength and stability.

If you're doing pilates, there's a fair chance at least 'some' of that might be corrected (although, potentially not, based on a recent experience of pilates)... however, I would strongly advise doing three things:

1) Visit the mobility thread (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18268152) and sort out what I suspect are some big problems with your IT band, hip flexors, adductors, etc.
2) Get your core strength sorted...
3) Think carefully about binning resistance exercise. Why? Because - when programmed and executed well - actually is of great benefit to joint health.

Finally, if you choose to ignore all of that (which is quite probable... ), start swimming/cycling on the basis of:

- One/two long rides/week;
- One/two HIIT training sessions organised around maximal effort using a smartphone tabata timer (nightmarish) or around a 20:80 second (sprint:rest) scheme for 5 repetitions, building from 3-8 sets. This is dependent, however, on your current level of fitness as well as how bad your knees actually are.

And then we have the change in your approach, too: to achieve a specific objective (like silly resting heart rate) you need to train, and training is - generally, and whilst fun - hard work.

 

[Draeger]

Thanks, lots of info there - really appreciate it.

Knees - My right knee was smashed to pieces over 24 years ago in a motorbike accident. The lower femur was badly fractured and it ran into the knee joint itself. Took 10 months to recover from it. It did however result in an imbalance in my pelvis as the right leg is @ 2 cm shorter than the left leg. This has caused me no end of problems over the years with my back. I've been wearing a shoe raise for the past 2 years on the advice of orthopedics which has improved my back issues incredibly. But they believe my knees are now suffering because for that period of 24 years my body and my joints have adjusted to compensate for the pelvic tilt issue and now all of a sudden they are all adjusting back to where they were prior to the accident as my leg lengths have now equalised with the raise! Wear and tear has also been cited as a root cause - my job (fire and rescue service) is extremely hard on knee joints in particular with all the heavy lifting we do. I have full flexion in my right knee but since the meniscectomy my flexion in my left knee has been limited - probably at about 75-80% right now. It feels really tight across the rear of the knee area at the back of my leg. Trying to gradually stretch this off to improve things but its progressing slowly.

 

[GSVBagpuss]

If you like cycling, I saw great speed gains (and weight loss) using the Sufferfest videos, whcih are essentailly hour long interval training (varying between 30s and 8min efforts). If you like pro cycling like I do, racing Contador up Alpe D'Huez is motivating!