Good VO2 Max by Age Lookup

VO2 max describes the highest rate at which the body can take in oxygen, transport it in the blood, and use it during intense exercise. Relative VO2 max is reported in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute, written as ml/kg/min. Dividing by body mass makes comparisons more useful than an absolute liters-per-minute value for many fitness settings.

A “good” result is not one universal number. Reference tables compare a measurement with people in an age cohort and a stated sex category. The same value may fall in different bands when the comparison group changes, and a birthday that moves someone into the next decade cohort can change the label without changing their physiology.

Measurement method also changes confidence. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing with respiratory-gas analysis is the clinical standard for directly assessing exercise capacity, while watches, field tests, and prediction equations estimate VO2 max from heart rate, speed, power, distance, or other signals. Estimates can move with heat, altitude, fatigue, recent illness, medication, body-weight changes, sensor fit, and the assumptions of the chosen test.

• Use a rating band to orient a fitness discussion or review a trend, not to diagnose disease.
• Compare repeated measurements made with the same method and similar conditions whenever possible.
• Near a band boundary, normal measurement error may be larger than the gap between the value and the cutoff.
• A percentile-style label does not prescribe a safe training intensity or prove readiness for competition.

Chest pain, fainting, unusual breathlessness, known heart or lung disease, pregnancy, recent serious illness, or major medication changes warrant professional guidance before strenuous testing or a large change in exercise intensity. These reference bands are informational and are not medical diagnosis, clearance, or treatment advice.

How to Use This Tool:

Choose the published comparison row first, then add a measurement only when you want that value classified against the same row.

1. Enter a whole Age from 20 through 79. Ages are assigned to one of six 10-year cohorts; there is no year-by-year interpolation.
2. Select the male or female Reference sex table used for the comparison you need.
3. Leave Measured VO2 max blank for a range-only lookup, or enter a value from 1 through 120 ml/kg/min to receive a rating and next-tier gap.
4. Read the Good band as a lower-inclusive, upper-exclusive range. At the exact Excellent cutoff, the rating becomes Excellent rather than Good.
5. Use Display precision only to change formatting from zero to two decimal places. It does not change the source thresholds or classification.

Interpreting Results:

The Good band begins at the published 60th-percentile floor and ends immediately below the 80th-percentile Excellent floor for the selected cohort. A measured value is compared with every floor in ascending order.

• Poor is below the Fair floor.
• Fair is at or above Fair and below Good.
• Good is at or above Good and below Excellent.
• Excellent is at or above Excellent and below Superior.
• Superior is at or above the Superior floor.

The next-tier gap is arithmetic distance to the next cutoff in the same source table. It is not an estimate of training time, expected improvement, health risk, or the smallest meaningful physiological change.

Technical Details:

The governing data is a fixed age-by-sex lookup table published in the Garmin Instinct 2 Series owner's manual and credited there to The Cooper Institute. Each row supplies the Fair, Good, Excellent, and Superior lower boundaries. Poor is derived as any positive measurement below the Fair boundary.

Formula Core

Age selects a decade row with a zero-based cohort index. For valid ages 20 through 79, the index is:

Thus ages 20 to 29 use row 0, ages 30 to 39 use row 1, and so on through row 5 for ages 70 to 79. No interpolation occurs within a row.

For a measured value v below the next tier floor T, the displayed gap is:

Thresholds remain exact decimal values. Display precision rounds only the presented numbers to zero, one, or two decimal places.

Rule Core

The source values below are lower-inclusive floors in ml/kg/min. The upper boundary of each band is the next floor and is exclusive.

A value exactly equal to a floor enters that band. For example, 44.0 is Good in the male 30–39 row, while 48.3 is Excellent. A value of 0 is treated as no measurement; any supplied positive measurement must be at least 1 and no more than 120 ml/kg/min.

Limitations:

The published table is one reference system for adults aged 20 through 79. It does not interpolate by exact age, model uncertainty, adjust for testing method, or establish an individual clinical target.

• The male and female rows are source categories, not a complete model of physiology, gender, medication, disability, altitude, training history, or health status.
• Wearable and field-test estimates can differ from direct laboratory measurement and from one another.
• A threshold crossing smaller than normal test variation should not be overread as a meaningful fitness change.
• Use a qualified clinician or exercise professional for symptoms, medical risk, testing safety, or individualized training decisions.

Worked Examples:

References:

• VO2 Max. Standard Ratings, Garmin Instinct 2 Series Owner's Manual, version 9, April 2026.
• Importance of Assessing Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Clinical Practice, American Heart Association, November 21, 2016.