VO2 Max & Muscle O2 Saturation

Measure what matters. Train with precision. Build the engine that carries you through life.

VO2 Max is one of the strongest predictors of healthspan and longevity ever identified — and one of the few markers of how well you'll live, and how long, that you can actively train. The catch: you can't train what you don't measure with precision, and generic age-based heart rate zones miss the mark by a wide margin.

DeNovo brings laboratory-grade VO2 Max testing — the same caliber used by elite endurance athletes and university exercise physiology labs — out of the lab and into your real training environment. Portable, research-grade equipment means your test happens on your bike, on your trails, in the gym you actually use. The data reflects how your body performs where it matters.

Choose the level of insight that fits your goals.

Choose Your Protocol

Foundations — VO2 Max Test

Single session | Portable research-grade VO2 assessment

The Foundations test delivers a full laboratory-grade assessment of your cardiorespiratory fitness using portable, wearable VO2 analysis. You'll complete a structured graded exercise protocol in your real training environment whenever possible, with continuous breath-by-breath analysis throughout.

Your report includes your VO2 Max value with age- and sex-matched percentile rankings, your individualized ventilatory thresholds (VT1 and VT2), your true heart rate training zones, your substrate utilization curve, and a written interpretation tied to your goals — whether that's improving cardiovascular fitness, building endurance for sport, optimizing fat utilization, or investing in long-term healthspan.

This is the right starting point for adults who want to replace guesswork with data and build training on a foundation of objective physiology.

Includes the full assessment, written report, and debrief consultation.

Advanced — VO2 Max + Muscle O2 Test

Single session | Portable VO2 analyzer + NIRS muscle oxygenation

Premier builds on Foundations by adding simultaneous Muscle O2 Saturation monitoring throughout the assessment. A wearable NIRS sensor captures real-time muscle oxygenation alongside whole-body gas exchange data — giving you both layers of physiology, captured at the same time, in your real training environment.

In addition to everything in Foundations, your report includes your muscle oxygen saturation profile across all intensities, a delivery-versus-utilization analysis identifying your primary performance limiter, muscle-level training thresholds to complement your heart rate zones, and reoxygenation kinetics as a marker of recovery capacity.

This is the right choice for adults who train seriously, want to optimize the precision of their program, and want a more complete picture of cardiovascular and mitochondrial health.

Includes the full assessment, written report, and debrief consultation.

Elite — VO2 Max + Muscle O2 + Lactate Test

Single session | Complete three-system physiological profile

The Elite test captures every layer of the oxygen cascade in a single session: whole-body gas exchange (VO2), local muscle oxygenation (SmO2), and blood metabolism (lactate). It is the most comprehensive performance and physiology assessment DeNovo offers — the same caliber of testing used to prepare elite endurance athletes for world-level competition, now available for people who take their training and healthspan equally seriously.

Throughout your graded exercise protocol, the portable VO2 analyzer and NIRS sensor capture continuous data, while small finger-stick blood samples are collected at defined intensity stages to build your full lactate curve.

In addition to everything in Premier, your report includes your directly measured lactate thresholds (LT1 and LT2), a three-system cross-validation of your training zones across gas exchange, muscle oxygenation, and blood metabolism, your lactate clearance profile as a marker of metabolic flexibility, and precision pacing guidance for endurance events and long sustained efforts.

This is the right choice for adults who want the most complete view of their physiology available — whether you're training for a goal event, optimizing for healthspan with the highest possible precision, or want a definitive baseline to retest against over the coming years.

Includes the full assessment, written report, and extended debrief consultation.

The Science Behind the Testing

VO2 Max — The Gold Standard of Cardiorespiratory Fitness

VO2 Max measures the maximum volume of oxygen your body can take in and utilize during intense exercise. It is the most validated measure of cardiorespiratory fitness in exercise science — a window into the integrated function of your lungs, heart, vasculature, and skeletal muscle mitochondria all at once. People in the highest fitness categories live measurably longer, stay independent longer, and experience dramatically lower rates of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and all-cause mortality.

A DeNovo VO2 Max test uses a portable, research-grade VO2 analyzer that delivers the same breath-by-breath gas analysis quality as a traditional lab metabolic cart, with the freedom to test in real-world environments. You wear a lightweight mask connected to the analyzer through a structured graded exercise protocol, producing a precise, individualized measurement of:

• VO2 Max — your maximum oxygen uptake (ml/kg/min), benchmarked against age and sex norms so you know exactly where you stand.
• Ventilatory Thresholds (VT1 and VT2) — the physiological tipping points that define your true training zones, replacing generic heart-rate-by-age estimates.
• Substrate Utilization — how efficiently your body burns fat versus carbohydrate at different intensities, a critical insight for metabolic health, body composition, and endurance.
• Heart Rate Zones — true zones derived from your measured thresholds, not from a formula.

Sport-specific testing produces sport-specific data. A runner tested while running, a cyclist tested on their own bike, a hiker tested on a real grade — each gets results that translate directly to the way they actually train.

Muscle O2 Saturation (SmO2) — Seeing Inside the Working Muscle

VO2 Max tells you how well your whole system delivers and uses oxygen. Muscle O2 Saturation tells you what's happening inside the specific muscle doing the work.

DeNovo uses a wearable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensor — the same technology used by elite cycling teams and exercise physiology programs worldwide. The sensor attaches to the skin over a working muscle (typically the quadriceps, calf, or another primary mover for your sport) and uses near-infrared light to measure oxygen saturation in that muscle in real time.

Paired with VO2 testing, SmO2 monitoring adds insights whole-body measurements alone can't provide:

• Local oxygen delivery and utilization — how well your cardiovascular system supplies the working muscle and how efficiently that muscle extracts and uses oxygen.
• Identification of your limiting factor — whether your performance ceiling is driven by oxygen delivery (cardiovascular) or oxygen utilization (mitochondrial/muscular), with direct implications for how you should train.
• Muscle-level training thresholds — precision beyond what heart rate alone can offer, especially for interval and high-intensity work.
• Recovery dynamics — how quickly your muscle reoxygenates between efforts, a key marker of mitochondrial health and recovery capacity.

Blood Lactate — The Metabolic Confirmation

Lactate is one of the most studied biomarkers in exercise physiology. As exercise intensity rises, your muscles produce lactate faster than your body can clear it — and the inflection points in that curve correspond to fundamental shifts in how you're producing energy.

DeNovo lactate testing uses a portable, validated analyzer that measures lactate from a small finger-stick blood sample at defined stages of your test. Combined with VO2 and SmO2 data, lactate analysis gives you:

• Lactate Threshold 1 (LT1) and Lactate Threshold 2 (LT2) — directly measured metabolic thresholds, the gold-standard confirmation of the aerobic-to-anaerobic transitions identified by ventilatory and muscle oxygen data.
• Cross-validated training zones — zones confirmed across three independent physiological systems (gas exchange, muscle oxygenation, and blood metabolism), eliminating ambiguity about where your true thresholds lie.
• Lactate clearance dynamics — how efficiently your body buffers and recycles lactate, a marker of metabolic flexibility that responds to targeted training.
• Precision pacing for endurance events — race and long-effort intensities calibrated to the metabolic boundary you can actually sustain.

When all three measurements are captured in a single test, the result is the most complete physiological profile available outside of a high-performance sport lab.

More Than a Test

Every DeNovo VO2 Max Performance Test supports a broader, sustainable approach to training and healthspan. The data is most powerful when paired with:

• Smart programming — using your individualized zones to build aerobic capacity, sustain intensity tolerance, and respect recovery.
• Consistency — VO2 Max responds to consistent training over months and years, not single hard sessions.
• Periodic retesting — most people benefit from retesting every six to twelve months. Measuring change over time is where the real value emerges.
• Whole-person health — pairing training data with sleep, nutrition, recovery, and broader biomarker context.

The goal is not just a number on a report. It is a lifelong engine — one that keeps you moving, capable, and vital for decades to come.

What's Included

Your package price includes the full testing session, all equipment use, your individualized written report, and a debrief consultation to translate your results into a training plan. There are no hidden costs.

Lab-grade testing. Real-world conditions. Built for your healthspan.

Testing is conducted by trained exercise physiology staff and is appropriate for healthy adults. A brief health screening is required prior to testing; some conditions may require physician clearance. Individual results vary based on training history, genetics, and other factors.

Available in the San Francisco Bay Area only.

This panel is intended solely for informational and wellness purposes to help inform lifestyle choices. It is not intended for diagnostic purposes and is not a substitute for medical advice. Please consult a licensed healthcare practitioner for any questions regarding diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any disease or health condition.