Fitness tests / VO₂ max: the Rockport walk test

VO₂ max: the Rockport walk test

VO₂ max is the most oxygen your body can use during hard effort. It is one of the strongest single measures of cardiovascular fitness, and you can estimate it with a brisk one-mile walk.

A woman walking briskly on an outdoor track
  • About 15 minutes
  • Flat, measured mile
  • Watch or phone timer
  • Heart-rate monitor, or count your pulse

Safety first. Check with a healthcare professional before testing if you have symptoms, heart or lung disease, exercise restrictions, or concerns about doing this safely.

Stop immediately if you have chest pain or pressure, severe breathlessness, dizziness or feel faint.

How to do the test

  1. Find a flat, measured mile. Four laps of a 400-metre track are 1,600 metres; add 9.34 metres to complete one mile.
  2. Warm up with five minutes of easy walking.
  3. Walk the mile as fast as you can while still walking. No jogging or running.
  4. Note your finish time to the second.
  5. Immediately record your heart rate. Use a chest strap or watch, or count your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by four.
  6. Cool down with a few minutes of easy walking, then enter your numbers.

Why cardiovascular fitness matters

Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is consistently linked with lower risk of heart disease and death from any cause. In large studies, people in the least fit groups carried risks comparable to, or greater than, well-known risk factors such as smoking and diabetes. Fitness also underpins everyday independence: climbing stairs, carrying shopping, keeping up with grandchildren.

Low fitness is about as risky as smoking or diabetes

Extra risk of dying over about 8 years

Below-average fitnesscompared with above-average fitness

+41%

Smokingcompared with never smoking

+41%

Diabetescompared with no diabetes

+40%

Heart diseasenarrowed heart arteries, compared with none

+29%

Based on 122,007 adults who had treadmill fitness tests and were followed for about 8 years (Mandsager et al., JAMA Network Open, 2018). Results were adjusted for other health factors. Each bar compares people with and without that factor. These are links seen in the data, not proof that one thing caused the other.

How to read your result

Your walking-test estimate is positioned against the updated 2022 FRIEND treadmill cardiopulmonary-exercise reference standards for people of your age and sex. This is a reference comparison, not a measured population percentile: FRIEND measured VO₂peak directly in a laboratory, while Rockport estimates it from walking time, heart rate, age, sex and weight. The Rockport formula was developed in adults aged 30 to 69 and is less accurate when heart-rate response is altered, including by medicines such as beta-blockers.

This is an estimate. It is not equivalent to laboratory cardiopulmonary exercise testing, which measures oxygen use directly. The most useful thing you can do with it is repeat the test every few months and watch the direction of travel.

Reference values

Updated FRIEND reference values from directly measured treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise tests in apparently healthy US adults aged 20 to 89. The 50th percentile is the middle of the laboratory reference distribution. Your age group is highlighted after you enter a result.

VO₂ max percentiles by age, mL/kg/min, women
Age10th30th50th70th90th
20–2922.530.836.641.849
30–3918.624.228.333.642.1
40–4917.221.825.73037.8
50–5916.520.122.926.332.4
60–6913.41719.622.427.3
70–7912.315.217.219.622.8
80–8911.413.715.417.320.8

Directly measured treadmill CPX in apparently healthy US adults (updated FRIEND registry, Kaminsky et al., 2022; 16,278 treadmill tests). A Rockport walking estimate is not interchangeable with laboratory VO₂peak.

View all vo₂ max reference percentiles and sources

Enter your result

Units
Sex
years
kg
Time to walk one mile
min
sec
bpm
Beats per minute, measured right as you finish.

Your result is saved only in this browser. Nothing is sent to us.

References
  1. Kaminsky LA, Arena R, Myers J, et al. Updated reference standards for cardiorespiratory fitness measured with cardiopulmonary exercise testing: data from the Fitness Registry and the Importance of Exercise National Database (FRIEND). 2022;97(2):285–293. Source record
  2. Kline GM, et al. Estimation of VO₂max from a one-mile track walk, gender, age, and body weight. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1987;19(3):253–259.
  3. Kodama S, et al. Cardiorespiratory fitness as a quantitative predictor of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events. JAMA. 2009;301(19):2024–2035. Source record
  4. Mandsager K, et al. Association of cardiorespiratory fitness with long-term mortality among adults undergoing exercise treadmill testing. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(6):e183605. Source record