VO2max is a vastly established and well understood measure of aerobic fitness, however, sex differences exist. The aim of this episode is to bright these differences to light and explain the reasoning behind these differences.

With an understanding of the differences training approaches can shift, aiming to improve overall performance whilst maintaining athlete longevity and health.

Interesting reads on the topic:

• Støa E.M., Helgerud J., Rønnestad B.R., Hansen J., Ellefsen S., Støren Ø. Factors Influencing Running Velocity at Lactate Threshold in Male and Female Runners at Different Levels of Performance. Front. Physiol. 2020;11:585267. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2020.585267.

• Pelliccia A., Maron B.J., Spataro A., Proschan M.A., Spirito P. The upper limit of physiologic cardiac hypertrophy inhighly trained elite athletes. N. Engl. J. Med. 1992;324:295–301. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199101313240504. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar][Ref list]

• Whyte G.P., George K., Sharma S., Firoozi S., Stephens N., Senior R., McKenna W.J. The upper limit of physiological cardiac hypertrophy in elite male and female athletes: The British experience. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. 2004;92:592–597. doi: 10.1007/s00421-004-1052-2.

• Giraldeau G., Kobayashi Y., Finocchiaro G., Wheeler M., Perez M., Kuznetsova T., Lord R., George K.P., Oxborough D., Schnittger I., et al. Gender Differences in Ventricular Remodeling and Function in College Athletes, Insights from Lean Body Mass Scaling and Deformation Imaging. Am. J. Cardiol. 2015;116:1610–1616. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2015.08.026. 

• Levine B.D., Lane L.D., Buckey J.C., Friedman D.B., Blomqvist C.G. Left ventricular pressure-volume and Frank-Starling relations in endurance athletes. Implications for orthostatic tolerance and exercise performance. Circulation. 2019;84:1016–1023. doi: 10.1161/01.CIR.84.3.1016. 

• Santisteban, K. J., Lovering, A. T., Halliwill, J. R., & Minson, C. T. (2022). Sex Differences in VO2max and the Impact on Endurance-Exercise Performance. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(9), 4946. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094946