00:02having a high V2 Max means that you can
00:04deliver more oxygen to your muscles
00:07meaning that you can ride harder for
00:09longer but how do you go about improving
00:12your VA 2ax well in this video I'm going
00:14to give you some sessions that you can
00:22training now for those of you who are
00:25unfamiliar with V2 Max let me get you up
00:28to speed and tell you what what it is
00:30and why it's so important firstly what
00:33does V2 Max stand for well the v stands
00:36for volume O2 stands for oxygen and Max
00:40stands for maximum you can do V2 Max is
00:43a measurement of the maximum amount of
00:45oxygen that an individual can utilize
00:47during intense exercise and is measured
00:50in millimeters of oxygen per kilogram of
00:53mass per minute endurance athletes tend
00:56to have a really high V2 Max with
00:58CrossCountry ski long-distance Runners
01:01and cyclist being some of the best
01:03performers some of the best V2 Max
01:06values recorded have been by cyclist the
01:09likes of Greg Lamont Chris room and most
01:11recently Tad Pacha now V2 Max is in the
01:16only reason that they are great athletes
01:18but it does play a big part in their
01:20success and V2 Max isn't only important
01:23for athletes it's also really important
01:25for everyday people who want to live a
01:28long and healthy lifestyle and Dan has
01:30recently done a really great video on
01:32this topic so make sure to go and check
01:37out now if you don't know what your V2
01:39Max is how do you go about finding it
01:42well V2 max testing is usually done in a
01:44sports lab with lots of special
01:46equipment and you can pay and go and
01:49have it done a quick Google online and
01:51I'm sure you'll find somewhere close to
01:52you that will be able to do it now it
01:55involves some pretty hard testing where
01:57you have to reach your Max and you also
01:59have to wear pretty interesting looking
02:01mask if you aren't about to head to a
02:04sports lab then some Sport and smart
02:06watches give an estimate V2 Max whilst
02:09this might not be 100% accurate it can
02:12be useful in helping you measure your
02:19progress now let's move on to how you go
02:22about improving your V2 Max now if
02:25you're fairly new to cycling you haven't
02:27been doing much exercise then just
02:29riding consistently is going to help and
02:32for example I've recently just done 6
02:35weeks of just Zone 2 training off the
02:37back of not doing very much may I add
02:40and I did see an improvement in my V2
02:42Max it wasn't much but it was an
02:44improvement but now I'm back into the
02:47swing of things and riding more
02:48consistently if I did want to improve it
02:51further from here I'd need to add some
02:53more specific intervals think about it
02:55like this if Zone 2 training will help
02:58improve the efficiency of your engine
03:00then training your V2 Max will help
03:02increase the size of your
03:07engine now for this video I got in touch
03:09with Lawrence from the complete athlete
03:11to help with some sessions that we can
03:13do to get improving our V2 Max and this
03:16is what he recommended when it comes to
03:19improving your V2 Max it is a heavily
03:21debated topic with many types of
03:23training reported to enhance it this
03:26includes continuous moderate exercise
03:29long dur ation high-intensity interval
03:31training short hit intermediate hit and
03:35even Sprint interval training
03:37high-intensity interval training is a
03:39lot more effective than low intensity
03:41exercise but athletes typically with a
03:44really high v2x will be doing lots of
03:47high volume work and consistent work in
03:51those zones 1 two and three micro
03:54intervals can be really effective as
03:55well as something I did a lot of in my
03:57procycling career a session with micro
04:00intervals could look something like 30
04:02seconds at a really high intensity
04:04followed by 10 to 30 seconds at a lower
04:07intensity micro intervals typically
04:09obtain a lower blood lactate
04:11concentrations and permit more time
04:13spent at a high percentage of V2 Max so
04:17longer intervals say 5 to 10 minutes
04:19accumulating to a total amount of work
04:21of 40 to 45 minutes would be a lot more
04:25effective than say if you chose to do
04:27shorter intervals so 2 to 4 minute
04:29intervals accumula to a total amount of
04:31work of 20 to 25 minutes an example of a
04:35session that you could do that is really
04:38basic is that you could do 8 minutes on
04:41have four minutes off and then you could
04:43repeat that three to five times within
04:45your session and you want that 8 minutes
04:48to be around your critical power or just
04:50a little bit above your FTP so you're
04:52exposing yourself to lots of time at
04:54high intensity and it's super easy to do
05:00now if you want a little bit more of an
05:02advanced session you could do 9 and 1
05:05half minutes of 30 seconds on 15 seconds
05:09off do that for 9 and 1 half minutes
05:12then you can have 3 minutes off and you
05:14can repeat that three to five times
05:17within that session now this session
05:20will accumulate time at or close to
05:22power at your VO2 max as well as time at
05:25a high percentage of Maximum oxygen
05:27uptake so you want that 30 seconds to be
05:30around 95 to 100% of power at V2 Max
05:34this is something that you could
05:36typically hold for around 3 and a half
05:38to 4 minutes if you were going full gas
05:40and then the 15 seconds off wants to be
05:44around 50% of that power now some
05:47Studies have shown that you can get
05:49improvements in as little as two weeks
05:51but typically that's with doing around
05:54four to five sessions a week which is a
05:57lot but the adaptations of doing
06:00sessions like we've spoken about today
06:02are much quicker than if you were to do
06:04zone two training like I have done in
06:06the past so say maybe give yourself
06:09three to four weeks of doing six to
06:11eight sessions you should see a
06:13significant Improvement but this is
06:14something you want to be consistent with
06:16and keep going not just doing little
06:21there so do let me know in the comments
06:23section if you found this video useful
06:26and if working on your V2 Max is
06:28something that you want to do as always
06:30if you enjoyed give it a big thumbs up
06:32and I'll see you in the next
