Conventional wisdom holds that your body reaches its physical peak at age 25 and then it’s uphill from there, but in the race to longevity with supplements, Oura trackers, reformer pilates and sleep scores, this conventional wisdom seems a bit off the mark.
The buzz phrase right now is “maintaining fitness,” which means maintaining peak performance for years longer than your parents’ generation. With greater access to sports science and more “total health bundles” and “fitness DNA tests” available than you could ever buy on a class pass, Gen X (ages 44-59) is alive and well.
There are now 6.3% more active people aged 55 and over in the UK than seven years ago (at the same time, the number of 16-34 year-olds classed as active has fallen by 320,000).
For example, at 48, I’m healthier and stronger than I was in my 20s, and my weight training gym is increasingly crowded with super-fit people in their 50s, 60s, and 70s who are perfecting deadlifts and burpees (but they don’t take gym selfies; you have to draw the generational line somewhere).
So which generation of YOU staff is keeping themselves fit the most? We had to rent a lab to find out. “It’s never too late to start your health and fitness journey; I tell my patients in their 80s,” says Dr. Gaurav Sabharwal, a sports-focused private practice physician and founder and CEO of One5 Health.
He let us use his preventive health clinic to perform a variety of tests, including blood tests to measure hormones, vitamins, cholesterol levels, and diabetes risk, a body fat and muscle percentage analysis, a balance challenge, and a grip strength test (a key indicator of overall health).
What’s the lifespan test that everyone focused on “fitness” talks about so passionately? It’s VO₂ Max, which Sabharwal describes as “one of the strongest predictors of healthy longevity” as well as “the strongest independent predictor of future life expectancy.”
You’d be forgiven for never having heard of VO₂ Max. Six months ago, only running enthusiasts knew about it. But Sabhar swears by it. Fitness experts and health experts, including Canadian doctor and podcaster Peter Attiah, who wrote the 2023 book Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, tout it as the most useful measurement for all exercise enthusiasts. Searches for the test have skyrocketed since.
VO₂ Max is a numerical score that represents how efficiently your body metabolizes oxygen. To calculate it, you get on a treadmill with a mask strapped to your face that measures the amount of oxygen inhaled and utilised, and are asked to run until you’re exhausted (hence the “max”).
The more efficiently you consume oxygen, the more energy your muscles have, increasing the length and intensity of time you can exercise.
Best of all, this score can be adjusted for genetics, gender, age, and body composition. The same score may look high to one person and low to another. Because YOU is a competitive bunch, we decided to test which generation of staff members are peaking the most. For fun, we gave each staff member a school exam-style letter grade that roughly correlates to their VO₂ Max score.
Generation Z
Maggie: Top and leggings from Goodmove by M&S, socks from The Sock Shop, trainers from Asics at Schuh
“I can’t squat because my back is bad”
name Maggie John
Year twenty three
VO₂ Max score (ml/kg/min) 43.1 (adjusting for age and gender, this puts Maggie in the top 25% for VO₂ scores).
Health Bio Recently I’ve started walking 8-10km a day and I’m happy with the positive impact it has had on my mental health.
Fitness Proud The test results showed that my strength levels were absolutely fine and, to my surprise, I scored top marks in fitness.
Fitness fail Social media is filled with people doing extreme fitness challenges that always leave me feeling like I’m not good enough. Our testing team told me that walking is the best exercise for me when it comes to maximizing fat burning.
Hidden health defects I have poor hip mobility which means I can’t squat very low, which I’m currently trying to improve with daily (or so) Pilates sessions.
Scarlett: Tops and shorts, New Era, socks, The Sock Shop, sneakers, Nike at Shoe
“I’m a fan of vaping spin classes.”
name Scarlett Dargan
Year twenty five
VO₂ max score 52 (which puts Scarlett in the top 10 percent for VO₂ scores).
Health Bio I’m a spin class fanatic, I love drinking and vaping, and I can’t and won’t cook.
Fitness Proud My VO₂ Max was high, and thanks to my marathon training, I’m probably healthier than the average Gen Zer.
Fitness fail I like to drink five nights a week, more than almost all of my Gen Z friends (many of whom are teetotalers), and yet my liver seems to be just fine.
Hidden health defects My strength levels were very low – in the bottom 20% of my age group – which meant I was prone to injury during exercise and it was a sign that I needed to diversify my training.
Millennials
“My muscle-to-fat ratio is horrible.”
name Luisa Avietti
Year 30
VO₂ max score 46 (which puts Luisa in the top 5 percent of VO₂ scores).
Health Bio I’m naturally slim, but I don’t exercise at all. I hate sweating and when I go to the gym with friends, we end up just chatting rather than working out.
Fitness Proud During the VO₂ Max test on the treadmill, I felt like I could swim forever. Maybe my body remembered that I once had good endurance levels because I was a competitive swimmer as a teenager.
Fitness fail My strength is only in the third percentile, so almost everyone my age is stronger than me.
Hidden health defects After all, my muscle to fat ratio is awful, which means I’m skinny obese.
Samuel: T-shirt and shorts, Goodmove by M&S; socks, The Sock Shop; sneakers, New Balance at Schuh
“If you try hard enough, you can even lift a suitcase.”
name Samuel Fishwick
Year 33
VO₂ max score 34 (which puts Sam in the top 50% of VO₂ scores).
Health Bio A chunky millennial who snacks a lot.
Fitness Proud Running burns a lot of fat calories at a low heart rate, but unfortunately the harder you run the less calories you burn, so you need to do steady-state cardio rather than aerobic exercise like HIIT training.
Fitness fail I’m a heavyweight wimp. I already knew that because my wife beat me at arm wrestling. But no one likes to be told that so explicitly.
Hidden health defects Tests have shown that with some effort, I can produce the level of strength needed to lift a suitcase, which, given my weight and height, 94 percent of other men can do better. I’m also overweight. Hmm.
Kelly: Top, bralette, and leggings are by Sweaty Betty, and sneakers are by Sweaty Betty Saucony.
Generation X
“The jump test was a disaster.”
name Kelly Potter
Year 48
VO₂ max score 43 (which puts Kelly in the top 5 percent of VO2 scores).
Health Bio A quintessential Gen X hedonist who got healthy. I stopped fussing, took up running and am now an avid gym-goer (and biscuit lover).
Fitness Proud My cardio and strength were excellent. My strength training had paid off: I had great grip strength, good muscle mass, and a squat that put me in the 65th percentile for my age.
Fitness fail As someone who would always get slow claps from other students when I did the high jump in gym class at school, it wasn’t a surprise that I did miserably on the jump test.
Hidden health defects I need to take supplements because I am iron deficient.
Rosie: Top and leggings, Vuori; Sneakers, New Balance at Schuh
“I run with my dog three times a week.”
name Rosie Green
Year 50
VO₂ max score 45 (which puts Rosie in the top 5 percent of VO₂ scores).
Health Bio I’m a big fitness fanatic — I run with my dog three times a week and strength train twice a week — but to be honest, I never push myself too hard.
Fitness Proud The team told me that my fitness and recovery are at “excellent” levels, my heart age is the same as someone seven years younger, and my stroke risk is half that of a 50-year-old.
Fitness fail My grip strength was below average.
Hidden health defects I discovered that my cholesterol levels were pretty high despite my super healthy diet, and when I think about it, I do love getting teeth marks on my buttered toast.
And that And the winner is… Generation X! The middle-aged generation has it all
Dr. Gaurav Sabharwal
To compare the health and fitness of the different generations, the following parameters were used: VO₂ Max, percentage of muscle mass, grip strength score, and average blood glucose levels.
Gen Xers are in very good health, earning some superior outcome scores compared to Gen Z and Millennials in both health and fitness parameters. VO₂ Max peaks in adults in their 20s and tends to decline by about 10% over the following decade. As expected, Gen Z had the highest scores.
However, because there is a 25-year age difference between Gen X and Gen Z couples, one would expect the older women’s VO₂ Max scores to be at least 20% lower, but in fact they were only 8% lower.
As a result, taking into account expected age-related declines, Gen Xers maintain higher levels of cardiopulmonary fitness than younger generations.
Interestingly, Gen X had by far the highest grip strength of any generation, making it clear that Kelly and Rosie’s weight training is paying off. A key lesson from this project is that age should not be a barrier to adopting and maintaining health and fitness.
One5 Health Well Woman or Well Man screenings start from £250. Fitness test packages are £450. For more information, 5. Health
Stylist: Cyree Stamp
Hair: Julie Reed as Carol Hayes
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