Average fitness numbers
The mean maximal oxygen uptake in women and men participating in the HUNT3 Fitness Study were 35 and 44 mL/kg/min, respectively. The results suggest a ~7% decline in maximal oxygen uptake with every 10 year age increase in both genders.
| Age | Women | Men |
|---|---|---|
| 20–29 years | 43 | 54 |
| 30–39 years | 40 | 49 |
| 40–49 years | 38 | 47 |
| 50–59 years | 34 | 42 |
| 60–69 years | 31 | 39 |
| Over 70 years | 27 | 34 |
| Age | Inactive | Active | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men | 20–29 years | 47 | 60 |
| 50–59 years | 38 | 47 | |
| Women | 20–29 years | 37 | 49 |
| 50–59 years | 31 | 37 |
Read the full research article:
Cardio-respiratory reference data in 4631 healthy men and women 20-90 years: the HUNT 3 fitness study
The HUNT3 Fitness Study is Europe’s largest database of directly measured fitness in a general population. The study also allow us to find reference values for various other cardiorespiratory measures, such as the maximum tidal volume. The data further suggests that the anaerobic thresholds is around 77% of maximum oxygen uptake for most, or at an intensity equivalent to approximately 88% of maximum heart rate.
Read the full research article:
Cardio-respiratory reference data in 4631 healthy men and women 20-90 years: the HUNT 3 fitness study
Higher fitness, lower disease risk
Fewer cardiovascular risk factors
Women and men below the gender-specific mean were four to eight times more likely to have a cluster of at least three cardiovascular risk factors – called the metabolic syndrome – compared to the most fit quartile of subjects. We also observed that maximal oxygen uptake may represent a continuum from health to disease, and that a general 5 mL/kg/min lower maximal oxygen uptake was associated with ~56% higher odds of having the metabolic syndrome.
Read the full research article:
Peak oxygen uptake and cardiovascular risk factors in 4631 healthy women and men
Fewer heart attacks
Moreover, high cardirespiratory fitness reveals the risk of heart attack in healthy persons. We found a strong link between higher fitness and reduced risk of a coronary event during the nine years following the HUNT3 Fitness Study. Only 147 participants had a heart attack or were diagnosed with angina pectoris during follow-up. The 25 % who measured the highest fitness levels had half the risk compared to those with the lowest fitness levels.
Read the full research article:
Peak oxygen uptake and incident coronary heart disease in a healthy population – The HUNT Fitness Study
Larger left atrium
The HUNT3 Fitness Study has also shown us that the left atrium of the heart is larger in healthy adults with high fitness than in health adults with lower fitness. A large left atrium is a criterium for diastolic dysfunction, where the hear has reduced capability to fill with blood between each beat. However, our study shows no association between atrial size and diastolic heart function. This suggests that fitness should be taken into consideration when assessing if left atrial volume is a sign of future heart disease.
Read the full research paper:
Left Atrial Volume, Cardiorespiratory Fitness, and Diastolic Function in Healthy Individuals: The HUNT Study, Norway
Better lung function
We have also related higher cardiorespiratory fitness to better lung function. We studied the association between forced expiratory lung volume in one second (FEV1) and maximum oxygen uptake in 741 HUNT3 Fitness Study participants aged 20 to 79 years, and found a linear relationship between better lung function and higher fitness in men, women, young, elderly and non-smokers.
Read the full research article:
The association between dynamic lung volume and peak oxygen uptake in a healthy general population: the HUNT study
Less inflammation
Furthermore, we found that the lower cardiorespiratory fitness, the higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in blood. CRP levels indicate general inflammation, and high CRP is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The results might indicate that poor fitness contributes to increased inflammation, and that exercise to improve aerobic capacity could affect CRP levels positively. 1400 women and men from the HUNT3 Fitness Study was included in this study.
Read the full research article:
Inflammation Is Strongly Associated With Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Sex, BMI, and the Metabolic Syndrome in a Self-reported Healthy Population: HUNT3 Fitness Study
Less headache
We have also found less headache in young adults with high fitness. Nearly 4000 of the HUNT3 Fitness Study participants also answered headache questions in HUNT3, and in those aged between 20 and 50 years there was significantly increasing prevalence of any headache, migraine and tension-type headache with lower fitness. Actually, the 20 % with the lowest fitness numbers had more than twice the odds of any headache and almost four-fold likelihood of migraine compared to the fittest 20 %.
Read the full research article:
Headache and peak oxygen uptake: The HUNT3 study
Using the HUNT3 Fitness Study database, we have also found six genetic variants that are closely linked to high or low cardiorespiratory fitness. These six fitness genes were also found to be associated with cardiovascular health: The more good fitness genes a person has, the lower are the levels of several cardiovascular risk factors.
Read the full research article:
Identification of novel genetic variants associated with cardiorespiratory fitness
We have also found markers in the blood that are associated with poor fitness. We compared the levels of 720 micro-RNAs in 12 participants with high maximum oxygen uptake with the levels in participants with low fitness. All participants were between 40 and 45 years old, and each person with high fitness was compared directly with a low-fit participants with similar levels of all other cardiovascular risk factors. Micro-RNAs are miniscule molecules that regulate the activity of our genes, and we identified three micro-RNAs that were indepentently associated with low fitness and could have potential as a biomarker of current and future health.
Read the full research article:
Circulating Micro-RNAs and Aerobic Fitness – The HUNT Study
Global fitness levels
The tests from the HUNT3 Fitness Study are also included in an international database called FRIEND-I, aiming to establish global reference values for cardiorespiratory fitness for women and men of all ages. The database include 12,000 treadmill tests of directly measured maximum oxygen uptake. The results published so far show that Norwegians generally have higher fitness than in all other countries that have carried out similar measurements at the population level.
Read the full research article:
Development of Global Reference Standards for Directly Measured Cardiorespiratory Fitness: A Report From the Fitness Registry and Importance of Exercise National Database (FRIEND)
The same database also show how the maximum stroke volume of men and women decreases with age. For example, a medium fit 20–29-year-old male heart pumps 21 milliliters of oxygen each stroke at maximum effort. This so-called maximum O2 pulse is only 11 milliliters per heartbeat in medium fit men in their 80s.
Read the full research article:
Peak oxygen pulse responses during maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing: Reference standards from FRIEND (Fitness Registry and the Importance of Exercvise: an International Database)
Convenient fitness tests
We have also used the HUNT3 Fitness Study to create models that make it possible to estimate your own fitness number without expensive equipment. Our most popular prediction models are the non-exercise based Fitness Calculator and Maximum Heart Rate Calculator, which you can read more about by clicking the links.
However, we have also made accurate models based on maximum and submaximum performance tests. The models are inexpensive and uncomplicated, and are convenient options for both recreational athletes and in health care settings.
Peak exercise model
One of our models lets you calculate your maximum oxygen consumption by pushing yourself to exhaustion on a treadmill. Start at a moderate speed and inclination and increase the intensity every second minute until you reach exhaustion. Then calculate your fitness number by using the gender-dependent equation below. The correlation between the model and true fitness number is almost linear.
Men: VO2peak = 24.24 + (0.599 x treadmill inclination in %) + (3.197 x treadmill velocity in km/h)–(0.122 x body weight in kilos)–(0.126 x age in years)
Women: VO2peak = 17.21 + (0.582 x treadmill inclination in percent) + (3.317 x treadmill velocity in km/h)–(0.116 x body weight in kilos)–(0.099 x age in years)
Submaximal exercise model
You could also estimate your fitness number accurately by exercising at moderate intensity and adding your treadmill inclination, speed, heart rate and body weight into the following equation.
Men: 35.25 + (1.276 x treadmill inclination in %) + (6.402 x velocity in km/h)–(0.196 x weight in kilos)–(27.615 x HRsubmax/(215.336–0.73 x age in years))
Women: 23.77 + (1.205 x treadmill inclination in %) + (6.051 x velocity in km/h)–(0.160 x weight in kilos)–(20.671 x HRsubmax/(212.497–0.702 x age in years))
Read the full research article:
Predicting VO2peak from Submaximal- and Peak Exercise Models: The HUNT3 Fitness Study, Norway
