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What is your fitness age?

Old 07-03-22, 12:58 PM
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What is your fitness age?

So Garmin has this measurement called "fitness age", based on your VO2 max.

I don't know how they calculate fitness age, but this sexagenarian will take the compliment.

But a fitness age of 20??? Come on, at least make the lie believable!



Also VO2max of 47 superior? Seems pretty middle of the pack.
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Old 07-03-22, 01:24 PM
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
So Garmin has this measurement called "fitness age", based on your VO2 max.

I don't know how they calculate fitness age...
Wait, back up: How do they calculate VO2 max?
Or are you expected to provide that number based on independant testing?
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Old 07-03-22, 01:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Bob Ross
How do [Garmin] calculate VO2 max?
First, you need a power meter and heart monitor. Garmin has an algorithm that looks at your performance and estimates your VO2max from your ride data.

From the Garmin website:
Assessing your VO2 max reliably from real-world activity data requires smart analytics capable of automatically recognizing the portions of your activity that truly reflect your abilities. This means, among other things, identifying and eliminating segments where your aerobic energy pathways are still warming up to increases in energy demand and those times when fatigue and cardiac drift are influencing your results.

The Garmin algorithm is based on one developed by Firstbeat, which report this about their method:
The method has been validated also with freely performed cycling by 29 cyclists whose pedaling power and heart rate were collected. The accuracy of the method when applied for cycling was 92% (MAPE [Mean Absolute Percentage Error] ~5%).
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Old 07-03-22, 04:06 PM
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I just do what I do. It doesn't really matter to me if someone or some app tells me I'm older or younger than my biological age. It really doesn't mean anything to me.
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Old 07-04-22, 08:44 AM
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My fitness age is 20 too. I sure don't feel like 20. So yeah, they need to do some work on that and come up with something that gives a better idea of how to relate what they are trying to tell us.

I wonder what I would have been when I was 20 some years old and my lungs, muscles and stamina in much better shape.
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Old 07-04-22, 09:00 AM
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I will play. I have a Garmin 830. Age 73 VO2 45, Terry, you are still on top of the leader board.



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Old 07-04-22, 10:46 AM
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Originally Posted by Hermes
I will play. I have a Garmin 830. Age 73 VO2 45, Terry, you are still on top of the leader board.
Ha! Well, there's plenty of room for all of us in this middle of the pack, where everyone's a winner.
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Old 07-04-22, 11:34 AM
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My maturity age is somewhere in the ballpark of 20. Saw that flash on my Garmin 520 Plus once.
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Old 07-04-22, 05:35 PM
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You can't use VO2max to measure fitness because fitness is a lot more than just having a good VO2max.
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Old 07-04-22, 06:39 PM
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Originally Posted by wolfchild
You can't use VO2max to measure fitness because fitness is a lot more than just having a good VO2max.
Well, it would be tricky to find a better measure of aerobic fitness.
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Old 07-04-22, 06:49 PM
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I'm the age of denial, and there I will remain.
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Old 07-04-22, 07:50 PM
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
Well, it would be tricky to find a better measure of aerobic fitness.
If I had to pick one measure it would be the lactate curve.

https://jameshewitt.net/2014/10/30/h...eir-advantage/

Age 66, estimated VO2max: 47-49 this season. Weak and slow.
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Old 07-04-22, 09:32 PM
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Sexagenerain here. (A rather misleading term if you have been married long enough . No power meter, just a HRM so I must be a zero. Did hit 190 BPM on a 17% climb the other day and didn’t infarct, so maybe zero plus one.
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Old 07-05-22, 08:02 AM
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With a fitness age of 20, you'll need about a hour to recover after your next century!
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Old 07-05-22, 08:50 AM
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Come to think of it, maybe my fitness age is much less than 20:

  • I badly need an afternoon nap
  • I need to be in bed before 10
  • I wake up multiple times during the night
  • I have to tinkle often
Hmm.
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Old 07-05-22, 08:56 AM
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Garmin is massaging our old egos; my fitness age is 25 years less than my age, but I dont believe it for a minute. I sure dont feel like forty! Then again, if you average in all the sedentary, overstressed folks, maybe somewhat realistic. They may be grading on a curve with very low expectations. We Americans are not exactly shining examples of health, generally speaking.
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Old 07-05-22, 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by Chuckles1
Garmin is massaging our old egos; my fitness age is 25 years less than my age, but I dont believe it for a minute. I sure dont feel like forty! Then again, if you average in all the sedentary, overstressed folks, maybe somewhat realistic. They may be grading on a curve with very low expectations. We Americans are not exactly shining examples of health, generally speaking.
This is just telling you where you fall on the population distribution of estimated VO2max over age. If the distribution has any validity, I assume it comes from some Big Data source using the same estimation algorithm, i.e., Garmin/Firstbeat itself, which would be international and heavily biased toward fitness-conscious individuals.

Incidentally, I don't have a Garmin computer and don't know my "fitness age", but the VO2max estimates from HRV4Training and intervals.icu agree in my case.
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Old 07-05-22, 10:19 AM
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I'm trying to keep my VO2max higher than my age. (I just turned 55, so I'm on track.)
Re fitness age: Have you *seen* the average American 20 year old? It's nothing to brag about.
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Old 07-05-22, 10:26 AM
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Originally Posted by caloso
Have you *seen* the average American 20 year old? It's nothing to brag about.
For complex reasons, I had to have a physical at an armed forces recruitment center back in the late 80s and sat for a while, stripped to my skivvies, in a long line-up of young guys until I got yanked out as a VIP. You're so right.
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Old 07-05-22, 12:21 PM
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Garmin says my fitness age Is 3.
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Old 07-05-22, 12:34 PM
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Originally Posted by caloso

I'm trying to keep my VO2max higher than my age. (I just turned 55, so I'm on track.)
Re fitness age: Have you *seen* the average American 20 year old? It's nothing to brag about.
Okay, new leader and I no longer have a seat at the finish line and off the podium.

I am all in on this VO2 greater than age thing you have going. I have a lot of work to do,
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Old 07-05-22, 01:05 PM
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Originally Posted by terrymorse
First, you need a power meter and heart monitor.
Then I guess I'll never know my "fitness age." Darn it all to heck.
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Old 07-05-22, 01:26 PM
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Garmin says my VO2 max is 53 on upright bike and 73 on my recumbent. I don't have the ap, so, what is the -20 years old per the random number generator?
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Old 07-05-22, 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Hermes
Okay, new leader and I no longer have a seat at the finish line and off the podium.

I am all in on this VO2 greater than age thing you have going. I have a lot of work to do,
I think the fitness age of 20 must be a default for those who are very high for their age group.
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Old 07-05-22, 09:52 PM
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Well, my lungs (all five lobes) at age 82, are filled with bone. This is caused by dendritic pulmonary ossification, extremely rare orphan disease generally diagnosed in autopsies. I have no clue what my VO2 max is but I feel very lucky that I can swim 45 minutes, bicycle a couple of hours, the resistance exercises, stretch and walk all in one day. There is no cure, but on the other hand it's not terribly progressive. So I don't worry about my VO2 max, I just hope to get out of bed everyday.<br />

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