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fall of Vo2max from FR35 to vivoactive 3

Former Member over 6 years ago

Hello

One year ago i bought a Forrunner 35, I get my Vo2max going from 35 to 61 during the year. 61 was a month ago. My goal is not the performance, but an indicator of my health, i have diabetes since 2017 and as I am only 39 so I hope to live most of the time without hard casualties.
A few weeks ago, nearly a month, a bought a vivoactive 3 which costs the double and that is prettier -I can wear it all the day- and has additional features such as HRV (for stress). During this nearly month my vivoactive is going down from 41 (first value) to now 39.

I have read that is was "normal" the new watch has to adapt the first weeks, but now it is a month and the fall was massive, from top 1% to bottom 40% of my age in just three days.
I do not run, I walk alone or with my dog and I ride my mountain bike. I do not like to run and as I am heavy I guess that would not be a good idea anyway.

What can I do to improve that ? Is it possible that my previous estimation by the FR35 was wrong and that I am not in a better health than in the beginning ? I walk at 5.6km/h (flat) with an average HR of 106 on a scale from 78 to 181 according to the VA3.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Hi there,
As I know, VO2max isn't calculated during biking if you don't have a Watt meter. If you don't have activity that tracks VO2max (walking, running) then it explains the drop.

The VO2max needs a 15 min long, clear, flat, uncovered segment of the activity.

0 Gadams99 over 6 years ago

You will have to get your average heart rate for your activity a lot higher than 106 to increase your VO2 Max higher . I hate to say to but 39-41 is probably right.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Hi there,
As I know, VO2max isn't calculated during biking if you don't have a Watt meter. If you don't have activity that tracks VO2max (walking, running) then it explains the drop.

The VO2max needs a 15 min long, clear, flat, uncovered segment of the activity.

Thank you for the answer.
Yes I know, I do "activities" of walking during about 90 minutes @5.6km/h in the country.
With my FR35 that was enough for a calculation of the Vo2, for the VA3 too, but the value has lost near 30%.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

You will have to get your average heart rate for your activity a lot higher than 106 to increase your VO2 Max higher . I hate to say to but 39-41 is probably right.

Thank you for your answer.
I have read in other topics that the use of 70% of cardiac reserve or more is mandatory in order to compute something true. But as I am walking and not running, especially with no mountains or hills, I cannot use so much cardiac reserve. Nevertheless if it was really mandatory I should not have a vo2max estimation and I have, but it dropped when I changed my devices.

When I use my bike I am higher at an average of 140 bpm but I have no powermeter so no estimation. I made some calculation by myself thanks to road in the neighbourhood at more than 10% during about 5 minutes, and an easy formula during walking (energy (kCal) = travel (km) * weight (kg) ), and my maximum power with oxygen (I do not know the name in english) is for both around 600W and it has not changed since the new watch. And it is more coherent with 60 than 39.

0 MarchiusZ over 6 years ago

I have Vivoactive 3 and Vivomove HR (no GPS). Under similar conditions VA3 gives around 5-6 points higher VO2Max estimate from walking... I do not do running.
I think different watch, different result. You can only see progress if you use same watch under same conditions. My VO2Max also drops using VA3 if I use walking sticks, if to compare just walking...

0 global_local over 6 years ago

Hi Wasabi80, welcome in community. White Papers for calculating of VO2max https://assets.firstbeat.com/firstbeat/uploads/2017/06/white_paper_VO2max_30.6.2017.pdf on Page 2 has a Table were you can figured out your aproximate fitness level. General - activity "Walk" gives bad data quality. You need at least HR chest strap and run activity for a realistic measurement.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

Hi Wasabi80, welcome in community. White Papers for calculating of VO2max https://assets.firstbeat.com/firstbeat/uploads/2017/06/white_paper_VO2max_30.6.2017.pdf on Page 2 has a Table were you can figured out your aproximate fitness level. General - activity "Walk" gives bad data quality. You need at least HR chest strap and run activity for a realistic measurement.

HI.
I have been tested last year, about when I bought the FR35, with a stress test made by a hearth doctor. I had a Metabolic maximum Task (MET) of 10. At the same moment my Vo2max was according to FR35 of 35 ml/kg/ min. It is fully consistent. It is some of the reasons why I think the FR35 is not inaccurate in this matter for me. But the next test is planned only in one year.

0 global_local over 6 years ago

Hello

I get my Vo2max going from 35 to 61 during the year.

It is not realistic for me if you was not an athlete for a years. Realistic would be rising from 35 to 42-45 during the year. But who knows... Initial measurement was good but the development less. The algorithm off First Beat need precise HR measurement and that can be a point. Simply example - if i go run a same distance, i getting with OHR overage puls 10 beats lower as with an chest belt. Lower puls mean higher VO2max, but it is not true.

0 Former Member over 6 years ago

It is not realistic for me if you was not an athlete for a years. Realistic would be rising from 35 to 42-45 during the year. But who knows... Initial measurement was good but the development less. The algorithm off First Beat need precise HR measurement and that can be a point. Simply example - if i go run a same distance, i getting with OHR overage puls 10 beats lower as with an chest belt. Lower puls mean higher VO2max, but it is not true.

hi, thank you for your answer.

I do not know what being an athlete means. 18 months ago before I was diagnosed with diabetes, I used to do 2-3 hours of Tennis or table tennis every week plus my normal life with in particular the walk with my dog, and occasionally few bike rides. Now I am doing that plus 5400km of mountain bike a year with an average of 140bpm, an not only in the summer, I did it all the time during snow, rain or storm from -10°C to +35°C. I have lost 10 cm of belt but near zero kilograms in total mass, I guess I have transformed some fat in muscle. A typical week I am doing about 14 hours of "activities" (bike+tennis+ walk with the dog).

0 HerrRiebmann over 6 years ago

Wow, that´s impressive! Congratulations about that :)

With being an athlete, global_local does not mean to do X hours of sports every week. It´s constantly pushing yourself into the next level and comparing yourself with others.
For me personally, this means to run at least 4-5 times a week and trying to archive to be somewhere around the first 10th of competitions.
This will include interval-training and different training methods to get faster and faster.
Last week I reached a Vo2Max of 56 for the first time. That´s for being very fit, still a long way!
And I´d say I´m still an amateur athlete :rolleyes:

Which was also said: Use a HRM strap! The wrist measurement is working okay all day. But not on sportive usage!