The Rockport one-mile walk predicts VO₂max from time, heart rate, age, sex and weight, with r = 0.92
Can you estimate VO₂max from a walk?
The finding
The best equation (n = 174) had r = 0.93; cross-validated on another 169 people it gave r = 0.92, with a standard error of 0.355 L/min.
- Authors
- Kline GM, Porcari JP, Hintermeister R, et al.
- Published
- Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 19(3):253–259 · 1987
- Evidence
- Read in the primary source; numbers checked.
- Source
- pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3600239/
How it was studied
343 healthy adults aged 30–69 (165 men, 178 women) with measured treadmill VO₂max (37.0 ± 10.7). Each walked at least two one-mile walks as fast as possible.
The numbers
The mL/kg/min version, as cited from Kline 1987 in later papers: 132.853 − 0.0769 × weight (lb) − 0.3877 × age + 6.315 × sex (men = 1) − 3.2649 × time (min) − 0.1565 × heart rate at the finish. The abstract itself does not print this equation.
What it does not show
Validated only for ages 30–69. Heart rate was taken at the end of the walk.
What Longstanding does with it
The app offers the Rockport walk as an alternative to running. The app does not yet flag ages outside 30–69, where the equation was never validated; treat a result there as a rougher estimate.