Oura adds Cardio Effort and VO₂ Max metrics
Original: Oura adds new fitness metrics to show how workouts impact your body
Why This Matters
Advanced fitness metrics push smart rings closer to dedicated sports wearables.
Oura is rolling out two new workout metrics—Cardio Effort and VO₂ Max—to Gen3 and newer Oura Ring devices, giving users deeper insight into cardiovascular strain and long-term fitness trends beyond basic heart rate zones.
Oura announced Tuesday it is launching Cardio Effort and VO₂ Max tracking as competitive pressure from rivals like RingConn and Ultrahuman intensifies in the smart ring market.
Cardio Effort measures how much a workout taxes the cardiovascular system, aggregating results weekly into five categories: Light, Fair, Maintaining, Building, or Reaching. The metric accounts for both intensity and duration, meaning a short hard workout can score similarly to a longer moderate one. It uses elevated heart rate relative to each user's long-term resting heart rate—avoiding the imprecision of maximum-heart-rate estimates—and personalizes weekly ranges based on recent activity patterns.
VO₂ Max, launching in Oura Labs (the company's experimental feature hub), estimates how effectively the heart, lungs, and muscles use oxygen during exercise. Previously requiring a lab test or structured walking test, Oura now estimates it passively via GPS-enabled workouts. After five qualifying activities, users receive an initial estimate in ml/kg/min, a fitness category (Low, Fair, High, or Peak), and trend data over time.
Both features are available on Gen3 and later Oura Ring models.