By: Michelle Kodis
It’s no secret that physical exertion at high altitude is more difficult than at sea level. But what isn’t as commonly known is that a person’s exercise performance is related to more than fitness and nutrition or the number of successful summits. You could say it’s genetic.

One of the major factors in determining how well a person will be able to perform physical exertion—regardless of the elevation—is VO2-max. In its most simple definition, VO2-max is a measure of a person’s aerobic capacity. More specifically, VO2-max is the maximum volume of oxygen the body consumes every minute during exercise. Explains Dr. Howard Donner of Telluride Medical Center, “Basically, a VO2-max reading tells you how much fuel your muscles are using. It’s an indication, then, of how ‘hot’ your engine is burning.” VO2-max decreases as altitude increases because of the diminished amount of available oxygen. “Muscles will typically use all of the oxygen delivered to them, but at the elevation of Telluride, there is less oxygen delivered to begin with, therefore athletic performance is reduced,” Donner adds.

Because individual VO2-max levels are genetically determined, there’s only so much you can do to improve on them.

“While you can certainly train to become an athlete and eat the right foods, you can’t increase your VO2-max by much more than 15-20 percent,” Donner says. “But people who are in great shape are able to maintain a higher percentage of their VO2-max for longer periods of time, which is bene-ficial to any type of exercise or endurance training.”

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