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Longstanding

VO₂max

Maximal aerobic capacity, from your watch, a 12-minute run, a one-mile walk or a lab test.

Method
Health app or 12-min run
Equipment
A watch, a track, or a lab result
Attempts
One
Reference
Clinical norm

Protocol

  1. Use your watch’s latest VO₂max estimate from Apple Health or Health Connect, if you have one.

  2. Or run as far as you can in 12 minutes on a flat course and enter the distance (Cooper test).

  3. Or walk one mile as fast as you can and enter the time and your heart rate at the finish (Rockport test).

Safety. Field tests are maximal efforts. Skip them if a doctor has told you to avoid hard exercise.

How it is scored

Scored against the Cooper Institute percentiles as republished by Garmin. These are predicted from treadmill time; the measured FRIEND norms read lower at older ages.

Clinical norm

Scored against a published reference table for your age and sex.

Reference table

Cooper Institute VO₂max percentiles, as republished by Garmin

Cooper Clinic patients; values predicted from treadmill time, not measured

Predicted values, not gas-analysis measurements. At older ages they sit well above the measured FRIEND norms, so the same VO₂max scores lower here. Points below P40 and the 80+ band are extrapolated.

Known gaps

Where the app’s table or protocol differs from its best source, from our own check of the research.

  • The table is the Cooper Institute table (predicted from treadmill time), not the measured FRIEND norms. At older ages Cooper is stricter: a man of 72 with 30 mL/kg/min scores about P44 here and about P73 against FRIEND.
  • The source has no points below P40, so lower percentiles are extrapolated. The 80+ band is extrapolated at about 10% per decade, which longitudinal data suggest is generous.
  • A watch estimate can be off by several mL/kg/min for one person, enough to move a band or two.
  • The Rockport walk equation was validated only for ages 30–69.