Am I "Winning" at Fitness? (V02 max and MORE with Phil Skiba, DO)

Do you remember "Presidential Physical Fitness” testing from youth? Can you name all 6 of the “classic” tests it included?

Fun fact: (according to a Feb. 2024 NYT article) Born of Cold War-era fears that America was becoming “soft,” the test was first introduced by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966. 

The goal was to improve the fitness of the nation’s youth for military service. The original test also included a softball throw, which mimicked throwing a grenade

So if you don’t have antiquated mid-century calisthenics metrics to tell you if you’re fit/athletic, what can you use? How can you know if you’re WINNING AT FITNESS??

What’s an average human to do?

Your Doctor Friends came across NYT article titled “This Test Might Be the Best Way to Track Fitness and Longevity” which focused on V02 max. The article presents the pros and cons of using V02 max as a valid, objective measure of cardiopulmonary fitness.

Your Doctor Friends decided to reach out to our Exercise Physiology MASTER EXPERT, to break it down for y’all!

Welcome, Philip Skiba, DO!

• Dr. Skiba is the outgoing Director of Sports Medicine/Fellowship Director for Advocate Health - Chicago, where he served for 12 years
• Dr. Skiba founded the Advocate Human Performance and Biomechanics Laboratories, helping amateur, elite and professional athletes explore their limits using state-of-the-art technology.

• Dr. Skiba was recently recruited to a professorship at Thomas Jefferson University Medical School in Philadelphia, where he will serve as Medical Director of Sports Medicine/Fellowship Director.

• Dr. Skiba serves on the medical boards of both USA Triathlon and USA Cycling and accompanied Team USA to the World Championships in Australia. 

• Unusual for a physician, he has also personally coached dozens of world-class athletes. Most notably, he was hired by Nike for the Breaking 2 project and helped train the fastest runners alive in pursuit of the first 2-hour marathon. 

• Dr. Skiba later appeared in and narrated portions of NatGeo’s Cannes Award-Winning Documentary “Breaking2”. He remains a familiar presence in print and broadcast journalism.

Check out this link to a clip from the Breaking2 documentary to see Dr. Skiba in action and for an adorable iconic Skiba-laugh :)

Eat your heart out, Peter Attia, Your Doctor Friends have the REAL MVP (of sports performance)!

Let’s get sweaty. We're all winning - listen to Your Doctor Friends :)

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