Dr. Andy Galpin on exercise-science: what the evidence says · JRE #996

What the evidence says 01 / RECORD

Galpin's estimate that the average person's VO2 max is around 40-45 ml/kg/min is a plausible approximation but glosses over large age and sex variation: published data on young sedentary (non-athlete) adults report averages closer to 33-35 ml/kg/min for men and 24-25 ml/kg/min for women, with commonly cited general-population "good" ranges spanning roughly 30-45 ml/kg/min depending on demographic group. His claim that raising an MMA fighter's VO2 max above about 60 ml/kg/min produces no further fight-performance benefit is not a figure established in peer-reviewed literature; measured VO2max values in competitive MMA athletes vary widely across studies, from about 42 ml/kg/min in one cohort to 54-60+ ml/kg/min in others, with no consistent numeric ceiling reported. Researchers studying MMA physiology instead emphasize that ventilatory and anaerobic thresholds, technique, and tactics may matter more for fight outcomes than absolute VO2max once a baseline aerobic capacity is reached, but they do not specify a fixed cutoff value. Status: mixed, the average-adult figure is a reasonable ballpark while the "60 is a hard ceiling" claim is an unverified generalization rather than a documented scientific threshold.