Zone 2 and VO2max: The Longevity Engine Most Lifters Never Build
Ask a man in his forties how his training is going and you’ll hear about his squat, his bench, maybe his deadlift. Ask about his VO2max and you’ll usually get a blank look. That’s a strange gap, because of every number you can attach to your body, your VO2max is among the best predictors of how long you keep doing anything at all. Here’s the tension at the heart of the decade-scale plan. You lift to keep muscle, protect your joints, and hold off the slow leak of strength that middle age brings. That’s correct — strength matters, and it matters more after forty, not less. But the aerobic engine underneath it is the thing most lifters quietly neglect, and the evidence says that engine is doing some of your most important longevity work behind the scenes. ...