What Is a Good VO2 Max for a 60 Year Old?

Reference VO2 max percentiles for men and women aged 60 to 69, how to read a reading against them, how far wearable estimates can move it, and what the evidence links to changing it.

For a man in his 60s, the median VO2 max is 28.2 ml/kg/min. 34.5 reaches the 75th percentile, which ACSM labels Good, and 40.3 the 90th, labelled Excellent. For a woman in her 60s the median is 20.0, with 23.8 at the 75th percentile and 27.0 at the 90th. These are the American College of Sports Medicine reference values from maximal treadmill tests with direct gas analysis. The median man of 60 would sit below the bottom-quarter line for a man in his 40s, which is why a VO2 max is only meaningful against its own age band. Aerobic training still raises it at this age: across randomised trials the gain held in participants over 65 as well as under.

The full VO2 max percentile table for your 60s

Every published breakpoint for the 60 to 69 band, for men and women.

Why the same number means less at 40 than at 60

The median for men is 37.8 in the 40s, 32.6 in the 50s, 28.2 in the 60s and 24.4 in the 70s. For women it is 26.7, 23.4, 20.0 and 18.3. A man of 60 at 28.2 is exactly average for his age, and that same 28.2 would fall below the 25th percentile (31.9) for a man in his 40s.

The decline is steady rather than sudden. Across 22,379 US laboratory tests, the median fell by an average of 13.5 percent, about 4.0 ml/kg/min, per decade on treadmill tests (Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2022). In 611 Dutch adults aged 55 to 75, absolute oxygen uptake fell about 1.3 percent a year in women and 2.5 percent a year in men, measured on cycle tests (European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2026). Cycle tests read lower than treadmill tests in the US data, so a bike result is not directly comparable with this table. All decades are on the VO2 max by age page.

A watch error is a bigger share of the table at 60

The table narrows with age. For a woman in her 60s, the distance from the 25th percentile (17.2) to the 90th (27.0) is under 10 points. For a man it is 16.6, from 23.7 to 40.3.

Published watch errors do not shrink to match. Apple Watch underestimated by 6.07 ml/kg/min on average in 30 people (PLOS One, 2025). Google Pixel Watch 3 had a small average bias in 34 people, but individual readings ranged from 12.56 below the lab value to 11.50 above it (PLOS One, 2026). Garmin's fēnix 6 showed a 7.05 percent mean absolute error in 19 people (Sensors, 2025). For a woman in her 60s, an error of that size can move a reading across most of the table. Our VO2 max desk rates wearable VO2 max accuracy as Emerging; the trend over months is the more reliable use. How wearables estimate VO2 max has the mechanism.

What training does in your 60s

Across 38 randomised trials with 1,682 middle-aged and older participants, aerobic training raised VO2 max by 1.80 ml/kg/min more than resistance training, and the improvement was significant both in participants aged 65 and under and in those over 65, in men and in women, and over both shorter and longer programmes (Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2024). Resistance training did better for lean body mass, which is a separate goal that matters at this age too. Our desk rates aerobic training's effect on VO2 max Established and the aerobic versus resistance comparison Emerging.

How the comparison between interval and steady training plays out is not settled in the pooled evidence, covered in HIIT versus steady-state cardio. One observational study of people in their 70s did find smaller five-year declines with higher-intensity training, which the 70s page covers.

What the mortality data says about the low rows

In 122,007 adults referred for treadmill testing, mortality fell as fitness for age and sex rose, with no upper limit observed. Below the 25th percentile carried an adjusted hazard ratio of 5.04 against the fittest group, and below average against above average carried 1.41, comparable to smoking and diabetes in the same analysis (JAMA Network Open, 2018). That is a referred clinical population with fitness estimated from treadmill workload, and an association rather than proof that improving the number changes the risk by the same amount. See VO2 max and longevity.

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