VO₂max is essentially a measure of how much life your body can sustain under stress. The higher it is, the greater your physiological reserve.” Why VO2max is actually a stronger predictor of mortality than smoking, diabetes and hypertension. Over the last decade, research has increasingly shown that cardiorespiratory fitness (measured by VO₂max)  is one of the strongest predictors of long-term survival in medicine. In some analyses it outperforms traditional cardiovascular ri