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🏃🏽♀️Maintaining VO₂max in Women Over 40: What the Science Says
VO₂max is having a moment. And as active women, you probably don’t need a man (or woman for that matter) with a microphone to tell you it matters for performance. We all know that.
It’s also being recognized as one of the strongest predictors of cardiovascular health, functional independence, and longevity. That makes sense, since VO₂max reflects your ability to take in oxygen, deliver it through the heart and blood vessels, and actually use it in your muscles. That system keeps you riding, running, hiking, carrying groceries, and ultimately living independently.
The real question isn’t whether VO₂max matters. It’s how we build it, and more importantly, how we hold onto it over the long haul.
Genetics do set an upper ceiling for aerobic fitness, but VO₂max is highly trainable, especially when you’re starting out. With structured training, people can see improvements of 15–20%. The harder part comes later. Population studies show VO₂max tends to decline by about 10 to 12% per decade. However, with regular training, that drop is often cut roughly in half, closer to 5 to 6%, at least until later decades (i.e. 70s), when it appears to accelerate. In other words, decline isn’t optional, but the rate of decline is manageable.
For some context, endurance-trained women over 40 still sit well above population norms, even as VO₂max gradually falls with age. Values vary widely by sport, training volume, and menopausal status, but cross-sectional data give us reasonable ballpark ranges. In many datasets of recreational-to-competitive endurance-trained women, VO₂max often falls in the ~40s–50s in midlife and may drop into the ~30s (sometimes high-20s) in later decades.
What Drives the Loss
The age-related decline in VO₂max reflects changes across the entire oxygen—delivery system—both central and peripheral.
On the central side, maximum heart rate falls with age, and the heart tends to pump less blood per beat as it becomes stiffer. On the peripheral side, muscles gradually lose capillary density and mitochondrial efficiency, making them less effective at pulling oxygen out of the bloodstream and using it for work. Put simply: less oxygen gets delivered, and less of what arrives gets used.
A recent study comparing 85 female runners and 62 sedentary women between the ages of 20 and 70 added an interesting wrinkle. In cross-sectional comparisons, the runners showed a steeper decline in VO₂max with age than the sedentary women—a finding that raised some eyebrows online. But two details matter. First, the runners had higher aerobic capacity than sedentary women at every age. Second, activity level explained more of the differences in fitness than age itself. One plausible explanation is that active women start higher and simply have further to fall, especially if training volume and intensity drop with age, as often happens.
Another potentially important factor—especially around menopause and midlife—is muscle quality. A recent preprint study examined muscle aging in 96 females between the ages of 18 and 80 and found that aging was associated with smaller muscle fibers, a greater proportion of “hybrid” muscle fibers (which blur the line between slow- and fast-twitch), and increased connective tissue within muscle.
Together, these changes reflect a gradual decline in muscle quality.
The study also found that higher circulating estradiol and progesterone were associated with greater lean mass and fewer hybrid fibers, even after accounting for age, physical activity, and protein intake. In contrast, total testosterone was not significantly associated with muscle size or strength in women.
Some hormone measures were also linked to greater amounts of fat located between muscle fibers, although the direction and underlying mechanisms of these relationships are not yet clear.
All of this matters because muscle quality directly affects the peripheral side of VO₂max: how well your muscles extract and use oxygen once it’s delivered.
What Training Works?
The good news: we are still highly trainable, and it’s never too late. A 2025 systematic review of 51 randomized trials found that aerobic training, resistance training, and combined programs all significantly improved VO₂max or VO₂peak in adults aged 60 and older across both short- and long-term interventions.
When you pull the evidence together, several principles stand out:
Start early—and stay consistent
Women who maintain endurance training before and through menopause often have VO₂max and cardiovascular structure/function that are on par with or even superior to much younger sedentary women.
Include intensity
Higher-intensity work can slow VO₂max decline. Strategic intervals beat chronic all-out training.
Preserve lean mass
In the past, coaches would often focus on aerobic training to boost/maintain VO2max, but muscle really matters–especially with age. Loss of muscle and muscle quality contributes to VO₂max decline. Resistance training helps preserve oxygen—using tissue and supports cardiorespiratory fitness with aging. |
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Come lift with us!
No egos. No competition. No body judgment. Just solid strength training, real confidence, and a community of Feisty women who lift heavy sh*t — and lift each other up. This is the strength retreat that was made for YOU!
Led by strength coach Cassi Niemann, you’ll spend the weekend building real skills: dialing in technique, understanding the “why” behind your lifts, asking all your questions, and gaining the confidence to move heavier weights on your own. Expect hands-on coaching, supportive energy, and a room full of women who are there to get stronger together.
Join us in Atlanta, April 17-19, 2026! Learn more here. |
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👀 What Caught My Eye
One of conundrums that comes up a lot in our Hit Play Not Pause group is elevated A1c levels in women who are flummoxed to comprehend how they can be prediabetic after a lifetime of activity and healthy blood sugar levels.
As we know, the menopause transition can increase insulin resistance and altered glucose handling, so blood sugar levels and A1C can rise. But it doesn’t necessarily mean your metabolic health is at risk. And in some cases, A1c can be artificially elevated by factors unrelated to glucose control—like low iron status.
Suboptimal iron levels, which are common in endurance athletes, can falsely raise A1c readings because reduced red blood cell turnover allows older red blood cells to circulate longer and accumulate more glucose. That extended exposure skews the A1c upward, even when true blood sugar control hasn’t meaningfully changed.
Bottom line: if your A1c is elevated, it’s important to look at the whole picture. That includes fasting glucose and insulin, along with an iron panel including CBC, ferritin, serum iron, TIBC, and transferrin saturation, before drawing conclusions about metabolic health.
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🔥Badass Athlete of the Week Goes To…
In a feat I can barely comprehend, Anna Troup, 56, won the infamously grueling Montane Winter Spine ultra, which is widely considered Britain’s most brutal endurance race. Runners have a time limit of 168 hours–or one week–to complete 268 miles/431km in whatever terrible conditions winter can toss at them. Anna crossed the line in an incredible time of 106:19:12, reportedly sleeping just 30 minutes during the event 🤯).
Amazing, inspiring accomplishment, Anna. Way to go!
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👉Want a chance to be featured? Click here to share your badass story |
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👩🏻💻 Hit Play Research Round Up
We spend a lot of time scouring the latest research for news you can use to stay strong and feisty forever. Here’s what’s making waves this week:
🥱 Poor sleep is taking a major toll on menopausal women’s quality of life. A 2026 systematic review shows that sleep disturbances rise from ~5% premenopause, to 16–47% in perimenopause, to 35–60% after menopause–independent of hot flashes. Poor sleep was consistently linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety, more musculoskeletal pain, worse physical and mental functioning, and reduced work productivity and daily activity. Worse, effective treatment strategies (behavioral, lifestyle, psychological, pharmacological, HT when appropriate) are not routinely applied. If you have poor sleep, seek treatment.
🧠The MIND diet is good for your brain. A systematic review of 17,000+ adults (ages 57–91) found that people who followed it more closely tended to have better cognitive function. It’s correlation, but it’s a solid, healthy eating pattern. The MIND diet blends the Mediterranean and DASH diets and emphasizes leafy greens, veggies, berries, nuts, beans, whole grains, olive oil, fish, and poultry, while limiting red meat, butter, cheese, sweets, and fried foods. Rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, it’s been linked to slower cognitive decline, better memory, and lower Alzheimer’s risk—especially with long-term consistency.
Beets FTW! A 2025 systematic review of 34 studies finds that beetroot juice supplementation—primarily through its nitrate-boosted nitric oxide production—can meaningfully improve physical performance, especially in moderately trained and older adults, by enhancing oxygen efficiency, endurance, blood flow, muscle power, and overall exercise capacity. Most research used beetroot juice doses delivering about ~6–13 mmol of nitrate, usually consumed 2–3 hours before exercise to improve performance.
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🚴♀️ TWO New Bike Mechanic Camps On Sale Now!
After the success of our two bike mechanic camps in Patagonia this fall, we're bringing in two more brand-new camps for 2026.
These 4-day camps are built to help you feel truly confident and capable with your own bike – from understanding how it works to getting hands-on with the tools. Each day combines practical “classroom” learning with focused wrenching sessions on your bike, giving you the confidence to troubleshoot problems, make needed repairs, and understand your bike at a deeper level. You’ll also have time to unwind on with group rides and connect with other feisty women in a supportive, judgment-free space.
Vermont | Madbush Falls
June 10-14, 2026
Tucson
November 12-16, 2026 |
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Feisty 40+ is written by Selene Yeager. Edited by Maya Smith. Ads by Ella Hnatyshyn
Live Feisty Media Corporation, 2031 Store St #30, Victoria, British Columbia V8T 5L9, Canada
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