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About this tool
Estimate your VO2 max from a Cooper run, 1.5-mile run, Rockport walk, step test or resting heart rate, and rate it against Cooper Institute norms.
The VO2 Max Estimator converts a simple field test into an estimate of your maximal oxygen uptake in ml/kg/min, then places it on the Cooper Institute norm table for your age and sex. It implements five published equations — the Cooper 12-minute run, the 1.5-mile run, the Rockport 1-mile walk (Kline 1987), the Queens College step test (McArdle 1972) and the resting heart-rate method (Uth 2004) — so you can pick whichever test you can actually do. It is for runners, cyclists and anyone tracking aerobic fitness without lab access.
Open VO2 Max Estimator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Enter the values you already know.
Fine-tune the options to match your scenario.
Read the result and use it in your planning or reporting.
Cooper, 1.5-mile, Rockport, Queens College and Uth resting-HR, each used exactly as published.
Your score is placed in the Very poor to Superior bands of the Cooper Institute table for your age and sex.
Converts the result to METs (1 MET = 3.5 ml/kg/min) and, with body weight, to absolute litres of oxygen per minute.
VO2 max = (distance in metres - 504.9) / 44.73. Covering 2,400 m in 12 minutes gives (2400 - 504.9) / 44.73 = 42.4 ml/kg/min. The test was published by Kenneth Cooper in JAMA in 1968 and assumes an all-out, evenly paced effort.
On the Cooper Institute norms, a man aged 30-39 needs 41.0 ml/kg/min to reach Good and 49.5 to reach Superior; a woman of the same age needs 31.5 and 40.1. The thresholds fall with age — for men aged 60+ Good starts at 32.3 ml/kg/min.
Yes, approximately. The Uth-Sorensen-Overgaard-Pedersen method uses VO2 max = 15.3 x (HRmax / HRrest). With a maximum heart rate of 190 and a resting rate of 60 that is 48.5 ml/kg/min. It is the least precise of the five methods because resting heart rate varies with sleep, caffeine and stress.
Divide by 3.5, since one metabolic equivalent is defined as 3.5 ml of oxygen per kg per minute. A VO2 max of 42.4 ml/kg/min is 12.1 METs, meaning your peak effort is about 12 times your resting metabolic rate.
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