Welcome to The Hip Replacement Podcast, where recovery meets motivation and healing leads to a whole new lifestyle.
I'm Chris Bystriansky, your host. I'm an author, athlete, and double hip replacement patient. I've been through the surgeries, the setbacks, and the comebacks. And I'm here to help you do the same.
Each week, I'll bring you tips, tools, expert advice, and inspiring stories to help you take back your life one step at a time.
Thanks for joining The Hip Replacement Podcast. New hips, new you. Let's go.
Welcome back to The Hip Replacement Podcast. I'm Chris Bystriansky, your host. I'm also a two-time hip replacement patient, one more than 12 years ago and one more than 10 years ago, and I'm here to share my experiences with you.
All right. In this episode, I'm going to talk about something that is kind of under the surface, but a very, very important topic that can help everybody here. So, today I'm going to talk about V2 max and specifically I'll address three issues or three questions.
Number one, what in the world is V2 max?
Number two, why is it important?
And number three, how do you increase it or how do you improve it?
All right, so V2 max, if you've never heard about this, let's break it down a little bit. So it's V2 max. So V as in Victor, O as in octopus, the number two, and then the word max.
So what does it mean? So V is for volume. O2 is oxygen gas and max means how much or the largest amount.
All right. So, I'm going to put on my chemistry hat and I'm going to nerd out for a minute. If you're a chemist out there, I'm totally going to butcher this, so don't get too upset with me, but I'm going to put on my chemistry hat to the best of my ability.
All right. Oxygen refers to an element. It's simply the symbol O for oxygen. But the gas we breathe is specifically oxygen gas or O2.
And with O2, it means there are two oxygen atoms that are bonded together to form a molecule known as O2 or oxygen gas. It's in the air we breathe.
Oxygen gas is in the air that we breathe. It's about 21% of the air. 21% of the air that we breathe is oxygen gas.
Another 78% of the air we breathe is nitrogen gas. That's 99%.
The other portions of the air we breathe are carbon dioxide and a few other gases and maybe some pollutants.
But generally 21% of the air that we breathe in every day all day long is oxygen gas.
So V2 refers to the volume of oxygen gas that we can breathe and use efficiently that our bodies can use efficiently.
The max part of this word or this phrase V2 max comes in to mean the largest volume of oxygen gas that we can breathe and use.
So think about it. Have you ever felt yourself out of breath? Okay, that has to do with your V2 levels.
Whether you're doing some serious exercising or just walking up some stairs or maybe just walking from your bedroom to the kitchen.
If you're out of breath at that point, we have to have a serious discussion.
So, just think about you being out of breath or not having the energy levels that you want. That could be because your V2 max is really low.
But basically, V2 max is a measure or a gauge, if you will, of how well your lungs and your heart can take the oxygen gas that's all around you and use it in your body efficiently.
So, a little biology here. How does your body use oxygen?
When oxygen comes into your body, your lungs take that oxygen and they put that oxygen into your bloodstream. I'm highly simplifying this, okay?
And your heart, the blood flows from your lungs into your heart and the heart pushes that oxygenated blood throughout the body.
You following me so far?
Oxygen comes into your lungs. Your lungs put oxygen into that blood into the blood and then the blood goes to your heart. The heart pushes that blood to the rest of your body.
All right.
If your lungs and your heart are healthy and pretty efficient, you can bring in a large volume of oxygen gas and your lungs can infuse a lot of that oxygen into your blood and your heart can then pump a lot of that highly oxygenated blood to your muscles.
Not only to your muscles, but to your brain and everywhere else in your body.
So, it's good to have oxygenated blood in your muscles, in your body and in your brain because if you don't have oxygenated blood going to your brain, that's where a stroke happens.
So in this situation when your lungs and your heart are efficient, your V2 max level would be high in that case and a high V2 max level is good.
But on the other hand, if your lungs and your heart are not healthy and not efficient, well, you'd be bringing in a lower volume of oxygen gas into your body and your lungs would not be able to infuse, for lack of a better term, all of that oxygen into your blood.
Your heart, it simply would not be able to pump much oxygenated blood to your muscles, brain, and everywhere else in your body.
And in this case, your V2 max level would be pretty low.
All right? Not a good situation. You want the highest possible level or volume of oxygen in your bloodstream as possible.
All right? One problem with a low level of V2 is that it causes your heart to pump harder and faster to compensate for the lower amount of oxygen in your blood. And this is where you get out of breath.
So, if you're just walking around and you're out of breath, your volume of oxygen in your bloodstream is pretty low and your body's not efficiently taking oxygen from the air and putting it into your lungs and in your bloodstream and it's not getting distributed throughout your body.
So remember a higher V2 max means you have a stronger heart, lungs and more efficient oxygen is delivered to your muscles and your brain which are all good things.
Okay? So you want more oxygen into your body and your bloodstream.
And to be even more specific, the V2 max number is measured by specifically it's measured by the milliliters of oxygen consumed in one minute per kilogram of body weight.
So it's a measure of oxygen and your weight.
So someone who is very big and someone who is very small could have the same V2 max levels because they weigh different and that smaller person would not need to bring in as much oxygen.
All right, a bigger person needs to bring in a lot of oxygen. All right, so because it has to do with weight.
So consider that if you're a bigger person. I consider myself medium-sized. I'm 5'10", 5'11 on a good day as far as height goes and 220, 230 pounds. So, I consider myself big in some ways and small in some ways or medium in some ways.
So, I would have a medium V2 max level and be able to function. I want it as high as possible, but as long as it's not low, that's good.
All right. So, how would you even measure this?
Great. We know it. We know that it has to do with the amount of oxygen you're taking in and your weight. But how do you measure this? How can you even figure this out?
Well, V2 max can be measured pretty accurately in a lab or for most of us it can be estimated through wearing a device like a watch or a bracelet and the device would pick up heart rate and pace data.
So when you're moving it'll pick up data. Just think about smart watches or they have rings now that you can wear or even bracelets.
So, there's a lot of different ways to measure your V2 and it's not so important to most of us to accurately measure this. All right? We don't need to have the exact reading that we would get in a lab.
What you would just want to do is get an idea of where it is so that you can improve it. So that you can measure the improvements.
All right? So you would take whatever device you would have if you want to measure this and just see if it's getting better tomorrow.
If you exercise today or over a course of a week or a month, just see if your readouts from that same device are different than they are when you start.
You'll also know that you're improving. You don't even need a smart device, but you'll know if you're improving this by how you feel.
But if you do use a smartwatch or device, it'll give you a measurement. It's certainly okay if it's not as accurate as a lab. Not a problem.
Because it will be meaningful to you and will tell you if you're getting better than previous measurements.
All right. Think about it's sort of like a scale in your house, you know, that you go step on and it tells you your weight.
Is that scale that you have at home 100% accurate with your actual weight?
Somewhere in the world there are accurate scales and they may be way different than that scale you have in your home to measure your weight but it doesn't need to be accurate. Okay? It just needs to be consistent.
It's important that that scale in your house or whatever you use to measure your V2 levels, it's important that it's consistent and it provides a meaningful number for you telling you if you're better or worse than your previous measurements.
Okay, so we covered what is V2 max?
Basically the amount of oxygen that your body is able to take in and use efficiently with your heart and your lungs.
Okay? And then we kind of talked about how you would measure that or if it's even important to measure it.
You're going to feel yourself have more oxygen if you have more oxygen by training. Okay? And we'll get to that.
But why is V2 max important? Why do we care?
Well, it's important for a few reasons.
Number one, it is a very important and measurable cardiovascular health indicator. It's a vital sign of heart and lung health with higher levels of V2 max linked to lower risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer.
When you can take in more oxygen and your body can use it more efficiently.
So when your V2 max is higher, your heart can pump more blood rich in oxygen per beat. Okay? So your heart doesn't have to work as hard.
So more oxygen gets to your muscles, brain, basically all over your body and the tissues in your body, helping you heal, recover from injuries, reduce inflammation.
All right, so a lot of different things.
Number two, why is V2 max important?
Second reason, and this may be the most important reason, for longevity and lifespan.
A high V2 max level is strongly associated with a longer life and is considered a better predictor of lifespan than age, weight, blood pressure, or smoking status.
Think about that. Your measurement for V2 max is a better indicator of lifespan than age.
So, if you looked at somebody and they're 80 years old and if you looked at somebody and they're 50 years old and you think like, "Oh, well, starting from today, that 50-year-old is probably going to live longer than that 80-year-old starting from today."
But what if their V2 maxes are way different?
What if the 80-year-old has a better V2 max level than that 50-year-old? The data shows that that 80-year-old will live longer than that 50-year-old.
Wrap your head around that.
And all of this is great news.
The level of your V2 max knowing that this is great news because I don't have any control over my age. I can't turn back the clock. I can't change my age, but I have a lot of control over my V2 max level. And so do you.
Think about that? You want to feel younger, healthier, live longer, have a better quality of life, have more energy, be able to do the things you want to do, focus on that V2 max.
Let's talk about number three, functional aging.
Maintaining a higher V2 max level helps preserve your independence and vitality as you age.
As you physically age, your physical age may say one number, but your feels like age may be much lower, which is a great situation.
I know people who are younger than me, much younger than me. They look older.
I know people who are 20 years older than me and they look very good, very younger than me and they can run circles around me, which is great.
Your ability to function as you age will not decrease as fast if your V2 max stays elevated.
So you can maintain your independence, your activity, and your quality of life for a longer period of time.
I don't know about you, but this sounds like a fountain of youth. That's what it sounds like to me.
If we can control our V2 max levels, and those are good indicators of longevity of life and your health over the long term, that sounds like we have control over our own fountain of youth.
What about a fourth reason? Fourth reason why V2 max is important. Well, sports performance.
The V2 max level determines an athlete's, not that doesn't even have to be a serious athlete, but someone who's athletic, their capacity for endurance events, for running, for cycling, for swimming, or any other activity you want to engage in.
And it does this by measuring how effectively that person can sustain high intensity effort.
Let's say you play tennis or pickle ball or anything basketball or anything else you want to do.
If you have more energy because you're taking in more oxygen and using it efficiently, you're going to be a better player later in the game than other people who are not as efficient as getting oxygen into their body.
You'll just be fresher. You'll have more energy.
All right, so that's number four.
Number five, I have to mention this because this is important.
What about intimacy performance? More oxygenated blood to certain parts of the body is very helpful in this area.
We're talking about size, sensations or sensitivity and endurance. I'll leave it at that for now.
Okay. So, we talked about what V2 max is, how to measure it, if you will, or how to know if it's going up or down, and we talked about why it's important.
But how do you increase it then?
If you want it, if you want a higher V2 max and you have control over it, how exactly do you control it? And how exactly do you increase it?
Well, couple simple ways. Be active.
And it's more than just being active. All right? There are very specific ways to really impact your V2 max.
So, it's not enough just to go out and do a walk or do a little bike ride or a little swim or play pickle ball or whatever it is you do. Okay? It's not enough to do just that.
What's needed is to do some high intensity interval training.
So these are short bursts of maximum effort followed by recovery periods.
Okay, this is a very effective method of increasing your V2 max because what happens is you have this baseline of how your heart and your lungs are working.
Okay, let's call this just your activity level.
Let's say we're going to go for a 20 minute walk and your activity level is at a certain level. Let's call it a five out of 10.
All right. Let's say you're walking around in everyday life as you go about your day, you're at an activity level of two, but then you do a specific walk or you're playing a game of pickle ball or whatever it is, and your activity level goes to a five.
So your heart rate and your lung capacity are working at a level five.
All right. When you do that, to engage this high intensity interval training, you'd want to take that five to maybe a seven of level of intensity for a while, maybe a minute, and then bring it back down to a five, and then alternate again and go back up.
So what you're doing, the concept is just alternating between high intensity and lower intensity where you take it easy. You simply adjust your pace and over time you'll find that this gets easier.
All right? So think about three levels of intensity.
Two out of and we'll do this out of 10. So from one to 10.
Two would be your ordinary daily activities.
You're working, you're cooking, you're just doing stuff around your house, your everyday chores.
All right? You're going shopping, what have you, that would be a level two.
And then when you pick up your activity level, when you're purposefully exercising or purposefully walking somewhere, you're at an activity level of about five.
Meaning your heart and your lungs are engaging in a level of activity at a five level, but then you want to increase that to about a seven.
Work up the intensity for a brief amount of time.
So let me give you another example.
If you're going for a 20 minute or 30 minute walk, for example, instead of walking that whole time at the same pace, at the same intensity, how about walk for three minutes or four minutes at whatever level you normally walk at and then for a minute or two, increase your pace, increase the intensity so that your heart and your lungs are working harder.
Do that for a minute or two and then bring it back down to your standard pace.
Once your heart rate and your lungs have calmed down and you're back to normal, increase that again.
So maybe three or four minutes of your baseline and then one or two minutes of increased activity and just keep cycling through that for your whole 20 or 30 minute walk. That will significantly increase your V2 max numbers.
And you can even go higher than the seven I mentioned. You have a lot of gears higher than that seven.
It's just going to take you longer to get there to train yourself, to train your lungs, to train your heart to get there.
But you have way more gears than that seven. Take your time.
This is just an introductory discussion on increasing your V2 max.
You could also do some endurance training.
These are consistent or moderate to vigorous aerobic exercises like running or cycling or swimming.
All right? So, you're doing more intensity. But again, you want to alternate between levels of your training and not just maintain the same level throughout your whole session, your whole 10, 20, or 30 minute session.
Okay.
Another thing that's required is some consistency with regular varied training and shifting between your standard steady state cardio and high intensity intervals. This is all key going up and down.
I'd recommend and this is in the literature too as well. 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity a week. Cardio is very important.
Okay? So 150 to 300 minutes per week is what 2 and a half hours to 5 hours per week.
And if you think about it, if you're just walking around, you could easily get to 150 minutes a week.
But those short little walks around your house don't really count. It has to be a longer walk.
So if you're going shopping, pick up the pace when you're shopping.
If you're walking around the park, walking around your neighborhood, just pick up the pace a little bit and that counts.
If nothing else, if you can't get outside, and by the way, you could do exercises inside your house that would increase your heart rate, right?
Just think about basic calisthenics just to slightly elevate your heart rate. These things count, too.
But if nothing else, if you can't go outside, if for some reason you cannot do exercises in your house, whether that's some light weightlifting with just things you have laying around the house, books or jugs of water or anything like that, if you can't do any of that, fill up your lungs.
Do breathing exercises where you're filling up your lungs because it's going to expand your lungs.
And even though you're not increasing intensity of exercises, you're still expanding your lungs and you're able to fill up more of the surface area of your lungs.
So, what I mean by this is just practice and get in the habit of doing this.
Take deep, long, slow breaths. Meaning inhale for a long period of time, five or 10 seconds, hold, and then a long slow exhale.
And do this throughout your day because that'll train your lungs to take in more oxygen.
You can do this, you can even add this process when you're doing some moderate activity.
And when I mentioned filling up your lungs, it reminds me of when I had my surgeries, when I went to the orientations prior to the surgeries at the hospital, the hospital gave me this little plastic tool.
And what it was, it was designed specifically to help me fill up my lungs.
And I was supposed to do this for 10 or 15 minutes three times a day leading up to surgery in the weeks leading up to surgery and for about a month after surgery.
And what it was is just like it's a little plastic thing and you would put your mouth on it.
Had a straw, a big straw and you would breathe in. It's basically breathing exercises. Okay?
And you would breathe in as long and as smoothly as you could. And this would fill up my lungs.
And it would measure how much you're able to inhale because it had this little plastic thing that would float based on the air that you were breathing in.
And the point was to keep that thing floating in the air inside a tube for as long as possible.
And that really helped train my breathing to help me fill up my lungs whether I was in the hospital or at home when I could not go and do any other physical activity.
So that was a great thing that I was able to use.
So, if you can't do exercises for whatever reason, practice filling up your lungs, taking deep, long, slow breaths and feel your chest expand and then hold and exhale slowly.
All right, it's pretty safe to say that improving your V2 max is a direct investment in a longer and healthier life.
It is one of the easiest ways to promote giving yourself some longevity and more energy as you live your life.
Remember, you don't need to max it out. You don't need to crush yourself with high intensity workouts. That's not what I'm talking about here.
You could. I would not start there, though. But anything would help.
You don't need to max it out. You just want to get better than you are today.
And ask yourself, how much effort are my lungs exerting? Ask yourself, how much effort is my heart exerting?
You want to help your heart and your lungs as best you can by exercising them.
And that's what V2 max measures, how efficient your lungs and your heart are.
So, you definitely want more oxygen circulating throughout your body with less effort and stress on your heart and lungs. That's real health.
Not how much you can lift, how much weight you can lift, how much activity you can do, but how efficient are your lungs and your heart.
I hope this episode was helpful. It's so important. It seems so simple and straightforward after you do it.
So if you're having a difficult time understanding what's going on, practice taking some deep breaths and just feel your over time, if you do this over the course of a week, you know, do it a couple times over the course of a week, you'll feel your lungs get a little bit bigger.
You'll be able to inhale more.
If you do that and you increase your activity level, you'll notice a significant difference in your body's ability to bring in oxygen and you'll feel yourself have more energy.
Please remember to share The Hip Replacement Podcast with others. It's so important to get the word out.
If you find these episodes valuable, please spread the word. There's a lot of people who don't know about this yet.
Maybe mention the podcast on social media or let your surgeon or physical therapist know about the podcast and know that it exists.
We are less than a year old and we're growing every day, but we have the ability to help a lot of people out there, give them some information and the inspiration to really do great things and have a great recovery with their lives after surgery.
Just ask other people to spread the word as best you can. There's so many people out there who would benefit and you just may be changing someone's life by sharing the podcast with them.
I get a lot of messages from folks and it really reminds me and inspires me to do more episodes because it is so important to a lot of people.
So, please get the word out. It's going be helpful to a lot of people and help change lives as people recover from hip replacement surgery.
Thanks so much for tuning in to The Hip Replacement Podcast and until next time, I wish you the best recovery possible. Take care.
