CrossFit is known to significantly improve your cardiovascular fitness or V02 Max. It does this by optimising our heart muscle’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles effectively. The metric of our cardiovascular fitness – also known as cardio – is called our V02 Max.
This Best Gym Hacks article here further breaks it down as to how it works.
Study of a one of our members at CrossFit
In this article, we review a real-life case study of one of our members whose asthma was a noticeable drawback in her life.
She was encouraged along to one of our CrossFit affiliates by her boyfriend who was already a member. Since joining and in only 4 months, her V02 Max study retest showed a significant improvement in her cardiovascular fitness.
Despite all the usual fears of any person exploring the idea of CrossFit, this misconception was quickly disintegrated with our coaches and community showing her that it’s not the big scary world of hardcore, shirtless gruntbags.
A V02 Max study carried out subsequently by her demonstrated the huge difference it has made to her life, her fitness and her confidence, as we’ll see below.
In the course of the last month my VO2 max had improved from a consistently flat 44 up to 49 – which might not seem much as numbers alone, but for someone that’s asthmatic, to see these metrics change was a massive milestone.
Vicky allchin
“I’ve always been a runner. I’ve always been an asthmatic. I’ve always been anxious and I’ve always been self-critical. Mixed together they’re a pretty tough concoction.
Running for better mental and physical health but was forever held back by my asthma, which seemingly never improved no matter how much I pushed. In turn, putting me into a cycle of never-ending self-criticism, never the fittest or fastest, never any good.
Then came along this curly-haired, ray of sunshine, who found no challenge too big, or achievement too small. Witnessing the cycle of defeat I was going through, he suggested I try this gym he goes to, this CrossFit thing. He tells me it won’t be pretty but I can make it as easy as I need to (really selling it).
He wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t pretty. There was a lot of near vomit, near asthma attack, near meltdown moments but after a few months, those moments became less frequent, and eventually, a thing that we’d look back on. During that time, I didn’t run much, as that would be insane, right?
So, as is tradition, we rang in the new year and I tell myself it was time to get back into running. After all, I’m running the London marathon in October so probably should get started with training!
After a couple of months of ups and downs, injuries and illnesses, I’m in full swing of both running and CrossFit, and I randomly decide to take a look at my VO2 max. Something that I had never looked at regularly, as it never changed. I couldn’t believe what I saw, I instantly screenshot it and sent it to anyone who would understand!
In the course of the last month my VO2 max had improved from a consistently flat 44 up to 49 – which might not seem much as numbers alone, but for someone that’s asthmatic, to see these metrics change was a massive milestone.
Around this time I started to see other achievements, fastest mile, fastest 5k, longest run, everything I’d strived for was starting to feel much easier.
The impact CrossFit had had on my overall health; strength, cardio, and mental health, meant I was starting to see gains rather than the gaps!
So, thank you TAG, for everything! – Vicky Allchin
So the moral of this story is that empirical evidence in just one of our members – who happens to be asthmatic – demonstrates that by using CrossFit as a training methodology, you can improve your V02 Max and cardiovascular fitness.
