# VO2 max calculator

> VO2 max from the Cooper 12-minute run, the Rockport 1-mile walk or the resting heart-rate ratio, rated against Cooper Institute norms for age and sex.

Interactive version: https://www.calcopenly.com/health/vo2-max-calculator
Subject: Health and fitness calculators

VO₂ max is the most oxygen the body can use during maximal exercise, in millilitres per kilogram of body weight per minute. Three field tests estimate it: Cooper's 12-minute run, (distance in metres − 504.9) ÷ 44.73; the Rockport 1-mile walk (Kline, 1987), from walk time, finishing heart rate, weight, age and sex; and Uth's ratio, 15.3 × maximum ÷ resting heart rate. The result is rated against Cooper Institute percentiles for your age and sex and converted to METs by dividing by 3.5.

People use it to track aerobic fitness without a laboratory test. A 35-year-old man who covers 2,400 m in 12 minutes scores 42.4 mL/kg/min, or 12.1 METs, which rates Fair for men aged 30–39.

Each test predicts a treadmill-measured value from a regression fitted on one group, so pacing, motivation and heat shift the result. The Uth ratio was validated only in 46 well-trained men.

## Inputs

- **Test** (options: Cooper 12-minute run, Rockport 1-mile walk, Resting heart rate ratio (Uth))
- **Sex (for the formula)** (options: Male, Female)
- **Age**
- **Distance covered in 12 minutes**
- **Weight**
- **Time to walk 1 mile**: mm:ss, walking as fast as you can
- **Heart rate at the finish**
- **Resting heart rate**
- **Maximum heart rate**: Leave blank to estimate it from your age (Tanaka)

## Results

- VO₂ max (mL/kg/min) — main result
- Rating (Cooper Institute)
- Maximal aerobic capacity (METs)
- Maximum heart rate used (bpm)

## Formula

$$
\text{Cooper: } \frac{d - 504.9}{44.73} \qquad \text{Uth: } 15.3 \times \frac{\text{HR}_{\max}}{\text{HR}_{\text{rest}}}
$$

## Worked examples

### Cooper: 2,800 m, man aged 25

- Test: Cooper 12-minute run
- Sex (for the formula): Male
- Age: 25 years
- Distance covered in 12 minutes: 2800 m
- **VO₂ max: 51.3 mL/kg/min**
- **Rating (Cooper Institute): Excellent**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 decimal: (2800 − 504.9)/44.73 = 51.3101; Cooper Institute men 20–29: 51.1 ≤ v < 55.4 → Excellent

### Rockport: man, 45, 190 lb, 14:30, 130 bpm

- Test: Rockport 1-mile walk
- Sex (for the formula): Male
- Age: 45 years
- Weight: 190 lb
- Time to walk 1 mile: 14:30
- Heart rate at the finish: 130 bpm
- **VO₂ max: 39.4 mL/kg/min**
- **Rating (Cooper Institute): Fair**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 decimal: 132.853 − 0.0769·190 − 0.3877·45 + 6.315 − 3.2649·14.5 − 0.1565·130 = 39.42445; men 40–49: 38.5 ≤ v < 42.4 → Fair

### Uth: max 190, resting 60, woman aged 35

- Test: Resting heart rate ratio (Uth)
- Sex (for the formula): Female
- Age: 35 years
- Resting heart rate: 60 bpm
- Maximum heart rate: 190 bpm
- **VO₂ max: 48.4 mL/kg/min**
- **Rating (Cooper Institute): Superior**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 decimal: 15.3 × 190/60 = 48.45; women 30–39 ≥ 47.4 → Superior

### Uth with the maximum estimated from age 30

- Test: Resting heart rate ratio (Uth)
- Sex (for the formula): Male
- Age: 30 years
- Resting heart rate: 55 bpm
- **Maximum heart rate used: 187.0 bpm**
- **VO₂ max: 52.0 mL/kg/min**
- **Rating (Cooper Institute): Excellent**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 decimal: 208 − 0.7·30 = 187; 15.3 × 187/55 = 52.02

### Boundary: exactly on the 80th percentile

- Test: Cooper 12-minute run
- Sex (for the formula): Male
- Age: 25 years
- Distance covered in 12 minutes: 2790.603 m
- **VO₂ max: 51.1 mL/kg/min**
- **Rating (Cooper Institute): Excellent**
- Checked against: Distance chosen so (d − 504.9)/44.73 = 51.1 exactly (51.1·44.73 + 504.9 = 2790.603); the table's thresholds are inclusive

### Cooper: one mile, woman aged 60

- Test: Cooper 12-minute run
- Sex (for the formula): Female
- Age: 60 years
- Distance covered in 12 minutes: 1 mi
- **VO₂ max: 24.7 mL/kg/min**
- **Rating (Cooper Institute): Poor**
- Checked against: Python 3.8 decimal: (1609.344 − 504.9)/44.73 = 24.6913; women 60–69 < 27.5 → Poor

## Questions

### What is a good VO2 max for my age?

It depends on age and sex. In the Cooper Institute percentiles used here, men aged 30–39 rate Good (60th percentile) from 44.0 and Superior (95th) from 54.0 mL/kg/min, while women of the same age rate Good from 37.8 and Superior from 47.4. Thresholds fall with age: for men aged 60–69, Good starts at 35.5. These are percentile ranks within a tested population, not clinical cut-offs.

### How do you calculate VO2 max from the Cooper test?

Take the distance covered in 12 minutes of running, in metres, subtract 504.9 and divide by 44.73. Covering 2,400 m gives 42.4 mL/kg/min, and 2,800 m gives 51.3. Kenneth Cooper published the equation in JAMA in 1968 after comparing 12-minute run distances with treadmill-measured VO₂ max in US Air Force men. It assumes an all-out, evenly paced effort.

### Why does VO2 max matter for health?

Cardiorespiratory fitness predicts survival. A 2009 JAMA meta-analysis by Kodama and colleagues (33 studies, 102,980 participants) found that each 1-MET higher maximal aerobic capacity was linked with a 13 % lower risk of death from any cause and 15 % fewer coronary and cardiovascular events. People below 7.9 METs, about 27.7 mL/kg/min, had the highest risk.

### How close are field tests to a laboratory VO2 max test?

Within a few mL/kg/min for the groups they were built on. Uth's heart-rate ratio estimated measured VO₂ max with a standard error of 2.7 mL/kg/min (about 4.5 %) using a measured maximum heart rate, and 4.7 mL/kg/min (about 7.8 %) using an age-predicted one, in well-trained men. Kline's Rockport equation was fitted on 343 healthy adults aged 30 to 69.

### How accurate is the VO2 max calculator?

Accuracy depends on your inputs and the method's assumptions. Decimal arithmetic uses 50 significant digits, but estimates, numerical methods and source data can be less precise; the displayed rounding does not remove those limits. It is checked against 6 worked examples whose answers come from independent sources; for example, “Cooper: 2,800 m, man aged 25” is checked against Python 3.8 decimal: (2800 − 504.9)/44.73 = 51.3101; Cooper Institute men 20–29: 51.1 ≤ v < 55.4 → Excellent.

### Where does the method come from?

Cooper KH. A means of assessing maximal oxygen intake. JAMA 1968;203(3):201–204; Kline GM et al. Estimation of VO2max from a one-mile track walk, gender, age, and body weight. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1987;19(3):253–259; Uth N, Sørensen H, Overgaard K, Pedersen PK. Estimation of VO2max from the ratio between HRmax and HRrest — the heart rate ratio method. Eur J Appl Physiol 2004;91(1):111–115; Cooper Institute VO₂ max percentiles, reprinted in Garmin's VO2 max standard ratings.

## Sources

- [Cooper KH. A means of assessing maximal oxygen intake. JAMA 1968;203(3):201–204](https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1968.03140030033008)
- Kline GM et al. Estimation of VO2max from a one-mile track walk, gender, age, and body weight. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1987;19(3):253–259
- [Uth N, Sørensen H, Overgaard K, Pedersen PK. Estimation of VO2max from the ratio between HRmax and HRrest — the heart rate ratio method. Eur J Appl Physiol 2004;91(1):111–115](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-003-0988-y)
- [Cooper Institute VO₂ max percentiles, reprinted in Garmin's VO2 max standard ratings](https://www8.garmin.com/manuals-apac/webhelp/venusq/EN-SG/GUID-983180E8-9BB5-4159-88E2-443D3CC59289-7301.html)

_Note: medical information, not professional advice._