Vo2max, PAM and VAM… what does it eat in winter?

Article updated on August 26, 2020

There are different ways to assess a person's level of cardiovascular fitness. Here are the 3 most popular:
Vo2max: the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use in one minute

PAM: the maximum power that a person can develop when using 100% of their VO2max

VAM: the speed at which a person goes when running at their VO2max

These concepts are quite difficult to imagine, which is why I prepared the following presentation on prezi:

Here is the charter I talk about at the end of the presentation:

SporTechAdelChouinard2009

Does this presentation help you to assimilate these different concepts?

author avatar
Daniel Riou General director
Managing Director of Challenge Group, Founder of Corporate Challenge and co-founder ofAltterre. I love anything related to physical activity and overall health. Holder of a bachelor's degree in Kinesiology from'Laval University Various trainings by The Runner's Clinic Emergence ProgramBeauce School of Entrepreneurship National Coaching Certification Program Level 2 in Badminton National Coaching Certification Program Level 1 in Weightlifting

22 thoughts on “Vo2max, PAM and VAM… what do you eat in winter?”

    • MAV is the speed a person has when running at 100% of the capacity of their aerobic system. Usually, this is the speed you can hold for 5-6 minutes. Someone who runs 20km / h for 5-6 minutes has a MAS of 20km / h. Someone who runs 20km / h for 2h3 minutes probably has a MAV around 23 and is running at around 86% of his MAH…

      Reply
  1. Thank you Daniel!

    It is very informative. I would have liked to have had this information when I started with our club (CCPUL). At the time I resorted to research on the WEB (without however finding a source explaining these concepts so clearly) and to confirm what I believed to have understood with the help of Richard thereafter.

    Reply
  2. I find the presentation excellent, but you should put your name in there somewhere for credit. Another point, the VAM is difficult to use in trail running especially in races with vertical drop eg more than 1000m in D +. I will still try to incorporate VAM into my next Trail Running training to improve my speed. However, you need good tools like a GPS watch in the field.

    Reply
  3. Thanks for the nice presentation!
    It makes you want to read the rest of this blog that I just discovered ...

    Note: The table given in the link is partly incorrect: the low endurance and high endurance columns are reversed.

    Reply
  4. nice explanation!
    I have a question ... is what we can say q a training in VAM would give the same in PMA
    (ex. 5x 1 ′ at 120% vam or pma)
    I ask that because we see a lot more ex of cape than of bicycle 😉
    greeting

    Reply

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