- Home
- Health & Fitness
- VO2 Max Calculator
VO2 Max Calculator
Estimate your VO2 max — the most oxygen your body can use per kilogram per minute — without a lab. Enter how far you ran in the Cooper 12-minute test, or switch to the resting heart rate method and enter your age and resting pulse.
- Peak effort in METs
- 12.2 METs
Saved setups
Save a set of inputs you reuse — your usual rate, your loan, your room sizes — and load it back in one tap.
Your recent calculations
Results you calculate here are kept on this device so you can come back to them.
Formula
How to use it
- Choose a method.
- For the Cooper test, run as far as you can in exactly 12 minutes on a track or flat route and enter the distance.
- For the heart rate method, enter your age and your resting heart rate measured on waking.
- Read your estimated VO2 max in mL/kg/min.
Worked examples
Running 2,400 m in the Cooper 12-minute test
- Estimated VO2 max
- 42.4 mL/kg/min
- Peak effort in METs
- 12.1 METs
Running 1.5 miles in 12 minutes
- Estimated VO2 max
- 42.7 mL/kg/min
Age 30 with a resting heart rate of 60
- Estimated VO2 max
- 47.7 mL/kg/min
The two methods
Kenneth Cooper introduced the 12-minute run in 1968 for the US Air Force. It is an all-out effort, so it reflects what you can actually do — but pacing and motivation affect the result, and it is not suitable if you are new to hard exercise.
The heart-rate ratio method was published by Uth and colleagues in 2004 from a study of well-trained men. It needs no exertion, but it is cruder: it leans on an age-based maximum heart rate unless you know your own, and resting heart rate varies from day to day.
A laboratory test with gas analysis is the only direct measurement. Field estimates can easily be 10–15% out. This is an estimate for general information, not medical advice. Talk to a doctor or other qualified clinician before making health decisions based on it.
Questions people ask
What is my VO2 max if I run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes?
About 42.7 mL/kg/min by the Cooper formula: 1.5 miles is 2,414 m, and (2,414 − 504.9) ÷ 44.73 = 42.7.
Can I estimate VO2 max from resting heart rate?
Roughly. For a 30-year-old with a resting rate of 60, estimated maximum heart rate is 187 and VO2 max is 15.3 × 187 ÷ 60 = 47.7 mL/kg/min.
How can I improve my VO2 max?
Regular aerobic training raises it, and intervals at high intensity are particularly effective. Because the figure is per kilogram, losing excess body fat raises it too.