2026年2月在米兰举行的冬奥会上，挪威在奖牌榜领先，但故事要追溯到1月的一项实验室影像：铁人三项选手Kristian Blummenfelt被报道创下约101 ml/kg/min 的最高VO2 max成绩。VO2 max（最大氧摄取量）是指人体在高强度运动中可使用的最高氧气速率，近年正越来越被普通健康和健身人群当作一种实用的体能指标，而不仅是精英运动员的专属指标。
关于心肺适能的证据很强：2025年发表于《英国运动医学杂志》的400,000例荟萃分析显示，超重或肥胖但心肺适能最高的人，整体死亡风险仅约为不健身且体重正常者的一半。VO2 max约有一半由遗传决定；它在大约30岁前逐步上升，30岁后每十年下降约10%，70岁后每十年下降超过20%，顶尖运动员可超过60 ml/kg/min，平均40岁男性约为40，而女性结果通常低约15%，与心脏更小、肌肉量更低和血红蛋白水平较低有关。
不过，对久坐者，规律运动仍可显著提高VO2 max，斯坦福心脏科医生Jason Tso称增加幅度可达10%到30%；游泳、跑步等有氧训练可改善氧输送，HIIT尤其有效，可在一次训练中多次逼近个人最大摄氧水平，但其高负荷要求更长恢复期，因此通常每周只能做几次。准确测量仍然困难：基于心率和速度的智能手表估算在2025年PLOS ONE研究中平均误差约13%，实验室用呼吸气体交换面罩测得更精确，但每次约花费200美元，且部分极端结果（包括Blummenfelt的101 ml/kg/min）仍受争议，因此业余运动员更应将VO2 max看作追踪趋势的有用指标，而非追逐的绝对数值。
At the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Norway topped the medal standings, but the story began in January when laboratory footage surfaced suggesting Kristian Blummenfelt had recorded a record VO2 max of about 101 ml/kg/min. VO2 max is the maximal oxygen consumption rate during intense exercise, and it has become increasingly important as a practical fitness marker for ordinary people, not just elite athletes.
Evidence for cardiorespiratory fitness is strong: a 2025 meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine of 400,000 observations found that overweight or obese people with the highest CRF had about half the all-cause mortality risk of unfit normal-weight people. Genetics explains roughly half of VO2 max, it rises toward a peak around age 30, then declines by about 10% per decade after 30 and over 20% per decade after 70, while top athletes can exceed 60 ml/kg/min, average 40-year-old men score around 40, and women are usually about 15% lower due to smaller hearts, less muscle mass, and lower haemoglobin.
Still, former couch potatoes can improve meaningfully: Stanford cardiologist Jason Tso reports 10–30% gains with regular exercise, especially from aerobic work and high-intensity interval training that repeatedly drives people near peak oxygen intake in one session. Measurement remains tricky because smartwatch estimates based on heart rate and speed can be about 13% off on average (a 2025 PLOS ONE study), lab gas-exchange tests cost about $200 each, and some extreme results, including Blummenfelt’s, remain disputed, so VO2 max is best used as a trend metric rather than an exact target.
Source: Should you track your VO2 max?
Subtitle: Treat it is a measure, not a target
Dateline: 4月 02, 2026 01:13 上午