Many fitness tracking apps and wearables offer metrics — so many metrics, that it’s easy to get lost. scores for everything: sleep, fitness, training readiness, heart rate (variation) and many many more. I am a self-confessed data nerd and I feel overwhelmed by these metrics.
I am trying to pay only attention to the things that actually matter:
- getting decent sleep, no matter what my ring and watch tell me
- increasing my strength over time (aka. progressive overload)
- improving my fitness
For fitness it seems VO2max is hailed as the gold standard and people like Peter Attia call it the most important predictor of longevity. So I wanted to know what my gadgets tell me.
My watch seems to estimate VO2max only from GPS-enabled outdoor runs and brisk walks. The problem is I hate running due to a bum knee and a busted toe (Hallux Rigidus). I even walk slowly as a result. Here is what my watch and Garmin connect show me as a result:
Sort of depressing. Now I know I am not particularly aerobically fit, but after losing 150lbs last year and working out 4-5x per week for 6 months this seems harsh. Especially the “poor” label made me sad…
Since I am planning to cycle and row a lot more going forward, I thought I should at least measure my Functional Threshold Power (FTP). It seems most apps/services scale the intensity of their workouts by that mythical FTP… Apps seem to start with odd default values. Despite the same inputs (52M, 6’4″ 226lbs) one app picked 241W and another 140W. So, I embarked on completing the Wahoo “Half Monty” Ramp test. This consisted of some warmup and then 1 minute intervals of increasing resistance/power and you basically pedal.. until you can’t anymore. I tried my best but when I tapped out at the 311W step, felt I should have pushed harder.
I was sort of sad that the Wahoo number went down from 241 to 227 but I decided to not obsess about it. Garmin’s VO2max estimate went up to 35 which it still calls “poor” while my watch calls it “above average” 🤷♂️ Chasing these numbers can really become toxic especially if you compare yourself to others and listen to Garmin’s judgy terminology. I realized simply losing another 30lbs would massively boost my vo2max number, more than any training could.
in summary, I will stick to my plan and aim for 4 hours of zone 2 cardio a week but only very occasionally try HIIT/cadence drills. I won’t re-test regularly and we will see where I end up next summer.