VO2 Max Essentials Part IV: Field Tests for Estimating VO2 Max

At-home alternatives to laboratory testing your aerobic fitness.

Throughout this series, we’ve talked about the limiting factors for VO2 max, the determinants of successful endurance performance, and the trainability of VO2 max.

Knowing the basics about VO2 max is important, but given the role that aerobic fitness plays in performance and longevity, most of us should also be interested in what our VO2 max actually is and how we rank amongst our peers.

Determining your VO2 max is probably as (if not more) important than getting regular bloodwork. For this reason, it’s probably a good idea to implement an annual test of VO2 max into your fitness and health routine.

The best way to determine your VO2 max is to visit a laboratory or university near you that offers the service. A quick Google search can probably give you a few centers where you can get tested for a reasonable price.

Alternatively, due to the large amount of research on VO2 max, several tests and prediction equations have been developed to estimate it. These tests are difficult (physically), but not time-consuming, and free-of-charge. Below I’ve provided 3 different running tests/equations and 1 cycling equation, all of which have been validated for estimating VO2 max.

Compared to your smart watch or fitness tracker, values obtained through these field tests may be slightly more accurate, but of course each of them will have some margin of error compared to the gold-standard of laboratory testing.

With that being said, let’s explore some of the common methods for field-testing VO2 max.

Running field tests

The Cooper 12-minute run test

As simple (I said simple, not easy) as it sounds, this test involves running as far as you can in 12 minutes. If you have a GPS watch, you can start and stop the watch and record your total distance run. If you don’t have a GPS watch or some way to track distance, head to a local track where you can calculate distance run after the test is over (based on how many laps and fraction of a lap you completed).

At the end of your 12-minute run, record your distance run in meters. If your GPS watch measures miles, then multiply that number by 1609 to get meters.

If you’re running on a track, multiply the number of laps you ran by 400 (meters in one lap of a standard track). Add on any additional distance run if you didn’t end on a full lap (which is likely). For reference, each straight and turn is 100 meters long.

Men and women can enter their distance into this formula to derive their VO2 max (in ml/kg/min):

VO2 max = (distance covered (in meters) – 504.9) / 44.73

1-mile run prediction equation