VO2 max calculator: the Cooper 12-minute run

The Cooper test estimates VO2 max, the highest rate your body can take up oxygen during exercise, from one number: how far you run in 12 minutes. Enter your distance and the estimate updates as you type.

Work out your estimate

The calculator needs JavaScript, which looks to be switched off. The number here is the worked example, and the equation below works by hand.

How to run the test

1. Find a flat, measured course, such as a running track, where you can count the distance. That’s how the original test was run: on a flat, accurately measured surface, in mild weather.¹
2. Warm up for at least five minutes.¹
3. Cover as much distance as you can in 12 minutes, at a steady pace: starting much too fast is a common mistake.¹
4. Note the distance at the 12-minute mark and enter it above.

It’s an all-out effort. If you haven’t been active, have a heart condition or have been told to limit exercise, check with your doctor before you run it.

How the calculator works

It uses Cooper’s equation as a 2015 validation study states it: VO2 max (ml/kg/min) = 22.351 × distance in kilometres − 11.288.²

Every extra 100 meters adds about 2.2 to the estimate. The table is the equation worked out at five distances, not a scale of what’s good or bad.

Where the equation comes from

To check the test, 115 Air Force officers and airmen ran as far as they could in 12 minutes, and within three days each had his VO2 max measured on a treadmill in Cooper’s laboratory. The correlation between distance and measured VO2 max was 0.897, and the results were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in January 1968.¹

How far off it can be

A strong correlation across a group doesn’t make one person’s estimate exact. Two later studies tested the 12-minute run against lab measurements:

• In 58 sedentary male university students in Kolkata, India, the equation’s average estimate was 42.8 ml/kg/min against a measured 39.8, and the author concluded the test as used didn’t fit that population.²
• In 21 healthy young adults who did both, the 12-minute run underestimated VO2 max in people with lower values and overestimated it in people with higher values, and the authors advised caution when predicting VO2 max from field tests.³

So treat the number as an estimate. Its best use is as a repeatable check on yourself: run the same course the same way every few weeks and see if the distance, and with it the estimate, goes up.

Questions

How do I raise my VO2 max?

With training. How to improve your VO2 max covers what the trials found and a week to run, and zone 2 cardio covers the easy side.

Can I do the test on a treadmill?

Yes. The Cooper Institute says the test can be done on a treadmill if you have no track or the weather is severe.¹ Use the same treadmill and settings each time, so your results compare with each other.

Is anything saved or sent?

No. The arithmetic runs in your browser, and the page keeps nothing once you close it.

If you’d rather have the cardio planned

Most people who lift want enough conditioning to train hard and feel good, without cardio taking over the week. Cardio and lifting explains how to fit both together. If you want that built around your schedule, coaching explains how it works, and apply tells me where you’re starting.