Have You Ever Taken the Cooper Fitness Test?

"Still, I somehow hadn't heard of Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, "the father of aerobics," until recently. A former Air Force lieutenant colonel, Cooper wrote one of the first influential books on endurance training (the aptly-titled Aerobics) and devised a popular 20th-century cardiovascular test called the Cooper Fitness Test. It's an extremely simple time trial: Run as far as you can in 12 minutes."

"VO2 max is one of the buzziest biometrics out there right now. Defined as "the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during intense exercise," it has strong ties to life expectancy and healthspan. There are countless videos of wellness influencers strapped to blue oxygen masks, charging up inclined treadmills, eager to determine their score on the cardio chart."

"These tests are accurate and worthwhile - I've taken multiple myself, but you can get a decent read without securing an appointment at a longevity lab (and forking over $150 or more). All you have to do is take the Cooper Fitness Test. I went to my local track to give it a go, plugged my findings into Cooper's trusty equation and compared it to my official readings."

Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper devised the Cooper Fitness Test, a 12-minute run that estimates cardiovascular endurance and gained wide adoption in the military, schools, and sports programs. VO2 max, defined as the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use during intense exercise, correlates with life expectancy and healthspan. Laboratory VO2 max tests deliver accurate results but can be costly and require appointments. The Cooper Fitness Test provides an accessible, low-cost proxy that yields a reasonable VO2 max estimate using Cooper's equation. A test subject completed a 12-minute track trial and compared the calculated result to lab readings.

Read at InsideHook