Your Oura Ring Can Now Show How Hard Your Workouts Really Are
Oura announced on October 20, 2026, that it is adding two new workout measures, Cardio Effort and VO2 max, to go beyond tracking time and heart-rate zones. TechCrunch
Cardio Effort shows how hard a workout is on your heart and circulation. The score adds up over the week and is compared with your own normal baseline. It counts both how hard and how long you exercise, so a short, hard workout can score about the same as a long, easy one.
It has two parts. Workout Cardio Effort rates one workout. Weekly Cardio Effort adds those scores into a weekly total. Weekly totals are labeled Light, Fair, Maintaining, Building, or Reaching.
Oura does not use the usual age-based guess at maximum heart rate. It compares your heart rate in a workout with your long-term resting heart rate. Weekly levels use personal ranges based on your recent activity. Cardio Effort is coming to Oura Ring Gen3 and later models.
VO2 max is about how well your heart, lungs, and muscles move and use oxygen during exercise. Think of it like the size of your body's engine. Oura estimates it quietly in the background using workouts with GPS turned on. You get a first estimate after five qualifying workouts.
Oura shows VO2 Max in ml/kg/min, which means how much oxygen you use per kilo of body weight, in the My Health Heart Hub. Scores are grouped as Low, Fair, High, or Peak. VO2 Max is launching in Oura Labs for Gen3 and newer rings. Oura says the two tools work together to show how hard you are working and how it adds up over time.
These tools build on what Oura already does. Oura tracks more than 40 live activities automatically. Oura It offers Live Activity Tracking that lets you start a workout in the Oura App and see pace and distance live. Oura The Ring uses a 3D accelerometer, a sensor that senses motion, and trained software to track daily movement, and its Automatic Activity Detection includes running splits that show time for each mile or kilometer.
That system has grown over time. Oura Ring Generation 3 added workout heart rate tracking. Oura and Strava linked their systems so Strava workouts show in the Oura app. More recently, Oura updated its rings and app for more exact step counts and calories burned, and its expanded set tracks more than 50 measures, including GLP-1 insights.
The broader context here is a move from one-size-fits-all numbers to personal baselines. Standard zones and age-based maxima are simple but can be off for many people. Using resting heart rate and recent activity makes it harder to compare people but gives a clearer picture for one person over time.
In my view, the useful part is pairing effort with fitness, and the payoff if the numbers hold up is keeping everything in one place. Weekly effort alone can just reward doing more. A fitness score alone does not tell you how to change it. Together they show work and result without lab tests or strict training plans. Putting VO2 max in Labs suggests Oura still sees it as a work in progress while it learns from more devices and workouts. The Ring already tracks the body at night, and using that same baseline for daytime workouts links rest and exercise in one system.
