VO₂ Master Cardiopulmonary Assessment
Assessment Stage: Baseline Assessment
Included in Future Health Assessment: Yes
Partner: PMQ Health
Provider: PMQ Health using the VO₂ Master System
Approximate Cost: Included in the Future Health Assessment
What is it?
The VO₂ Master Assessment is a laboratory-grade cardiopulmonary exercise test that measures how efficiently your heart, lungs and muscles work together during exercise. It provides an objective assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise metabolism, allowing exercise to be prescribed based on your physiology rather than estimated heart rate formulas.
VO₂max is recognised as one of the strongest predictors of future health, healthy ageing and longevity.
What does it measure?
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VO₂max
Relative VO₂max (ml/kg/min)
Absolute VO₂max (L/min)
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Aerobic Capacity
Exercise Capacity
Functional Fitness
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Fat Oxidation
Carbohydrate Oxidation
Metabolic Efficiency
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Ventilatory Threshold 1 (VT1)
Ventilatory Threshold 2 (VT2)
Individualised Training Zones
Why is it important?
Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest predictors of:
All-cause mortality
Cardiovascular disease
Type 2 diabetes
Dementia
Functional independence
Healthy ageing
Unlike many health measures, VO₂max is highly modifiable through exercise. Even modest improvements are associated with substantial reductions in future disease risk.
The assessment also identifies whether you are predominantly burning fat or carbohydrate during exercise, allowing more precise exercise prescription for performance, weight management and metabolic health.
Who may benefit?
Recommended for:
Adults wanting to optimise long-term health
Healthy ageing assessments
Weight management programmes
Patients with cardiometabolic risk factors
Endurance athletes
Recreational exercisers
Patients commencing structured exercise programmes
What happens during the test?
You will exercise on a treadmill while wearing a lightweight face mask connected to the VO₂ Master system.
The assessment gradually increases in intensity until a maximal or symptom-limited effort is achieved.
Throughout the assessment we continuously measure:
Oxygen consumption
Carbon dioxide production
Heart rate
Exercise workload
Ventilatory thresholds
The assessment typically takes 15–25 minutes.
Preparation
Wear comfortable exercise clothing and running shoes.
Avoid strenuous exercise for 24 hours beforehand.
Avoid heavy meals for 2–3 hours before testing.
Remain well hydrated.
Continue medications unless otherwise advised by your doctor.
Advantages
Gold-standard assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness
Objective measurement
Highly reproducible
Personalised exercise prescription
Identifies training zones
Tracks progress over time
Strong evidence linking VO₂max to healthy ageing and longevity
Limitations
Requires moderate to maximal exercise effort.
Results may be influenced by acute illness or injury.
Should be interpreted within the context of overall health and exercise experience.
How Future Health uses this investigation
VO₂ Master results are integrated with:
DEXA body composition
InBody analysis
VALD strength assessment
Blood pressure
Blood biomarkers
Nutrition assessment
Physical activity monitoring
This allows us to prescribe exercise based on your individual physiology rather than population averages, helping optimise cardiovascular fitness, metabolic health and long-term physical capability.
Future Health Summary
Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the most powerful predictors of future health. Measuring VO₂max provides an objective benchmark of your current physical capacity and allows exercise to be tailored to maximise health, performance and healthy ageing.