As competition escalates in the smart ring market, Oura is introducing two new features to give people more insight into their workouts and how they affect their bodies. The company announced Tuesday that it is rolling out cardio effort and VO₂ max metrics to expand workout tracking across exercise duration and heart rate zones.
While Oura has largely dominated the smart ring market for years, rivals like RingConn and Ultrahuman have emerged to dethrone it, putting pressure on the company to continue to innovate. By launching more advanced workout metrics, Oura is looking to differentiate itself from competitors.
With Cardio Effort, users will be able to see how much a workout is taxing their cardiovascular system. This measurement is aggregated over the week relative to each user’s individual baseline to provide more insight. Oura explained that this metric shifts users’ focus from “How many minutes did I move?” to “Am I maintaining, building, or exaggerating my fitness?”
Since cardio effort accounts for both intensity and duration, a shorter, more intense workout can produce a similar score to a longer, less intense one, the company says.
Oura notes that the metric has two components: Workout Cardio Effort and Weekly Cardio Effort. The first metric evaluates the impact of an individual workout, while the latter aggregates effort into a weekly total, categorized as “Light,” “Fair,” “Maintaining,” “Building,” or “Reaching.”
Oura measures elevated heart rate relative to each member’s long-term resting heart rate, avoiding the variability associated with maximum heart rate estimates. Weekly effort levels are then determined with custom ranges based on recent activity patterns.
Cardio Effort is rolling out on Oura Ring Gen3 and later models.
As for VO₂ max, the metric shows how workouts contribute to long-term fitness. It measures how effectively the heart, lungs and muscles work together to deliver and use oxygen during exercise. Previously, measuring VO₂ max typically required a lab test or a six-minute walk test. Oura can now estimate it passively with GPS-enabled workouts.
After completing five qualifying activities, users will receive an initial VO2 Max estimate. In the My Health Heart Hub, they can see their current VO2 Max estimate in ml/kg/min, their fitness category (Low, Fair, High, or Peak), how their estimate has changed over time, and when it was last updated. Users also get insights that highlight meaningful changes in their VO2 Max or indicate when their estimate remains consistent.
VO₂ Max launches in Oura Labs, the company’s hub for experimental features, for members with Gen3 and newer Oura Ring devices.
Oura says these two new features are designed to work together to show users how hard they are working and how that effort increases over time.
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