We at Biohackr Health are focused on healthspan. As you age, you need to be proactive in your health, and a key part of this is your heart and lung fitness, which correlates with morbidity (sickness) and mortality (death). A common way to measure this is VO2 max testing.
VO2 max testing find the maximum rate of oxygen use during exercise. V = volume, O= oxygen, and max- maximum. Vo2 max is relative to your body mass. You can use this as a barometer of your exercise health. Many think that VO2 max is one of the best predictors of lifespan and healthspan. 
- You can increase VO2 max by progressive cardiovascular training: think interval training, sprints, and weightlifting. To improve VO2 max, you need to do vigorous activity that gets your heart pumping.
- You can get a broad idea of your number by looking at your heart rate for 20 seconds, multiply that by 3, and then divide your maximum heart rate. Multiply this number by 15.3.
- You can get tested. This involves a machine which hooks you up to a heart rate monitor and mask which analyzes your breathing as you increase your exercise. When you hit anaerobic activity *usually 7-20 minutes in* it will let you know your VO2 max, aerobic, and anaerobic thresholds.
Recently there was an article published which found that plasma protein levels “proteomics” correlate with VO2 max levels.
Study:
- CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study
- Proteomics cardiorespiratory fitness levels were scored.
- They looked at how well the proteomics data correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness.
- They found it “modestly correlated with participants measured Vo2 max.”
- More importantly they found that it really correlated with all cause mortality. For every standard deviation increase, there was an 89% increase in risk of all cause mortality, and higher incidence of heart disease, metabolic conditions and neurologic issues.
- Proteins show changes with exercise: HbA1c, visceral adipose tissue improve.
They conclude though that Vo2 max is still a better study, as VO2 max is a better predictor of all cause mortality, but blood testing also does correlate. For those who have injuries (so can’t run/bike for the VO2 test), this offers a different way of testing for cardiorespiratory fitness. It may be more cost effective as well, so better to use for more routine follow up than the more intense and costly VO2 max testing.