What Is a Good VO2 Max for a 70 Year Old?

Reference VO2 max percentiles for men and women aged 70 to 79, 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 70s, the median VO2 max is 24.4 ml/kg/min. 30.4 reaches the 75th percentile, which ACSM labels Good, and 36.6 the 90th, labelled Excellent. For a woman in her 70s the median is 18.3, with 20.8 at the 75th percentile and 23.1 at the 90th. These are the American College of Sports Medicine reference values from maximal treadmill tests with direct gas analysis. A study of 1,565 Norwegians aged 70 to 77 adds a sharper line: readings below 26.5 for men and 22.2 for women went with higher five-year mortality, while people above that level did no better for being fitter still. Both thresholds sit above the ACSM median for the age.

The full VO2 max percentile table for your 70s

Every published breakpoint for the 70 to 79 band.

The threshold a Norwegian study tied to survival

In 788 women and 777 men aged 70 to 77 in the general population of Norway, all given a peak oxygen uptake test, 5.3 percent of the men and 3.7 percent of the women died within five years. Against the unfit group, those classed as moderately fit had a hazard ratio of 0.34 for men and 0.41 for women, and being fitter than that brought no further reduction. Mortality concentrated below 26.5 ml/kg/min for men and 22.2 for women, which the authors relate to about 85 percent of the average for that age and sex in their own sample (Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 2025).

Read against the ACSM table, 26.5 for a man falls between the median (24.4) and the 75th percentile (30.4), and 22.2 for a woman falls between the 75th percentile (20.8) and the 90th (23.1). That implies the Norwegian sample averaged well above the US reference median, which is a reason to treat the threshold as a guide rather than a hard line. It is one cohort and an association.

How training intensity related to the decline over five years

In 500 adults aged 70 to 77 who reported the same exercise habit for five years, men doing high-intensity training lost 3.1 percent of their peak oxygen uptake and men doing moderate-intensity training lost 7.7 percent. Women doing high-intensity training showed no change, and women doing moderate training lost 4.6 percent. After five years the high-intensity groups were about 1.3 ml/kg/min ahead (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2026).

That was a post hoc analysis of self-reported training, not a randomised comparison, so it shows an association with intensity rather than proving intensity caused the difference. The pooled randomised evidence on interval versus steady training is not settled, which HIIT versus steady-state cardio covers. Across 38 randomised trials, aerobic training of either kind still improved VO2 max in participants over 65 (Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2024).

Fitness still separated risk at the top end after 70

In 122,007 adults referred for treadmill testing, the fittest group had lower mortality than the merely highly fit, and that difference held in the patients aged 70 or older, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.71 (JAMA Network Open, 2018). Fitness there was estimated from treadmill workload in a clinical population. Our desk rates the fitness and mortality link Established. See VO2 max and longevity.

How much to trust a watch reading at this age

For a woman in her 70s, the whole table from the 25th percentile (15.6) to the 90th (23.1) spans 7.5 points. Published watch errors are close to that width: Apple Watch underestimated by 6.07 ml/kg/min on average in 30 people (PLOS One, 2025), and individual Google Pixel Watch 3 readings ran from 12.56 below the lab value to 11.50 above it in 34 people (PLOS One, 2026). Our VO2 max desk rates wearable VO2 max accuracy as Emerging. A watch is a reasonable way to follow your own direction, and a lab or clinic test is the way to know which side of a threshold you are on. How wearables estimate VO2 max explains the gap. The 60s page and VO2 max by age cover the decades before.

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