Beep Test Calculator - VO2max from Level or PACER Laps

The 20 m shuttle run, level by level

Level 9 of the beep test is run at 12.5 km/h, or 7.77 mph, and for an adult the Leger equation turns it into an estimated VO2max of 47.6 ml/kg/min. This beep test calculator does that conversion for any level from 1 to 21 and any age from 8 to 90, adds the newer Stickland estimate for adult men and women, and shows the speed and pace of the level you stopped at. A second mode reads a FitnessGram PACER score, which American schools record as laps rather than levels, and converts it for students aged 10 to 16.

20 m

one shuttle, about 22 yards

+0.5 km/h

faster every minute, from 8.5 km/h

+3.0

ml/kg/min for each adult level

Scoring your run in four moves

How the test was scored - choose level if your sheet says something like "level 9, shuttle 5" (beep test, bleep test, multistage fitness test, Leger test), or PACER laps if it shows a single count such as 45 (FitnessGram in US schools).
Level or laps - type the last level you reached as a whole number, then say whether you ran at least half of its shuttles. In PACER mode, type the laps completed, from 1 to 247.
Age and sex - whole years. In level mode sex is optional and only adds the Stickland estimate for adults; in PACER mode it is required, because the equation adds a fixed amount for boys.
Height and weight (PACER mode only) - feet, inches and pounds, or centimeters and kilograms. The calculator turns them into BMI, which the PACER equation needs.
Read the result - VO2max in ml/kg/min, the speed in mph and km/h, the pace per mile, and a short table of the levels around yours.

Three equations behind one gym-floor test

Luc Leger and his colleagues in Montreal published the protocol and its equation in the Journal of Sports Sciences. You run back and forth between two lines 20 m apart and have to reach each line before the recording beeps. Level 1 is 8.5 km/h, every later level lasts about a minute and is 0.5 km/h faster, so the speed of any level is 8 + 0.5 × level. The test ends when you miss the beep twice or give up.

The equation was built on 188 children and teenagers aged 8 to 19: VO2max = 31.025 + 3.238 × X − 3.248 × A + 0.1536 × A × X, where X is the speed in km/h and A the age in years. For adults the authors found that the same formula works if age is held at 18 (r = 0.90 in 77 men and women aged 18 to 50). Held at 18 the formula becomes about −27.4 + 6.0 × X, the form Leger and Gadoury later reported for adults.

Stickland, Petersen and Bouffard later tested 122 young adults in Alberta (average age about 25) and found that the Leger equation underestimated their measured VO2max. Their replacement uses the last half-level completed: men 2.75 × level + 28.8, women 2.85 × level + 25.1. That is why the calculator asks about the half level, and why adults who choose a sex see two numbers side by side.

The PACER mode uses an equation from Matthew Mahar's group at East Carolina University, fitted on 244 students aged 10 to 16 whose VO2max was measured on a treadmill: 40.345 + 0.214 × laps − 0.795 × BMI + 4.273 × boy + 0.794 × age, where boy is 1 for boys and 0 for girls. The same paper offers a quadratic model, but it peaks at about 85 laps and then predicts lower fitness for longer runs, so the calculator uses the linear version, which is almost as accurate (R 0.74 against 0.75).

Levels 1 to 15 for adults: speed, pace and VO2max

Every row was produced by the calculator for a 30-year-old. Pace is the time per mile at the speed of that level. Stickland values assume the whole level was run, without the extra half.

Level	mph	km/h	Pace per mile	Leger	Stickland, men	Stickland, women
1	5.28	8.5	11:22	23.6	31.6	28.0
3	5.90	9.5	10:10	29.6	37.1	33.7
5	6.52	10.5	9:12	35.6	42.6	39.4
6	6.84	11.0	8:47	38.6	45.3	42.2
7	7.15	11.5	8:24	41.6	48.1	45.1
8	7.46	12.0	8:03	44.6	50.8	47.9
9	7.77	12.5	7:43	47.6	53.6	50.8
10	8.08	13.0	7:26	50.6	56.3	53.6
11	8.39	13.5	7:09	53.6	59.1	56.5
12	8.70	14.0	6:54	56.6	61.8	59.3
13	9.01	14.5	6:40	59.6	64.6	62.2
15	9.63	15.5	6:14	65.6	70.1	67.9

In the middle of the scale the Stickland numbers sit about 6 points above Leger for men and about 3 for women. The gap shrinks at high levels, because Leger climbs 3.0 per level and the Stickland lines only 2.75 and 2.85.

The same level at ages 8 to 16

Below 18 age is part of the equation, and a younger child gets a higher estimate for the same level. The equation treats level 6 as a bigger achievement for an 8-year-old than for a 16-year-old.

Age	Level 4	Level 6	Level 8	Level 10
8 years	49.7	54.2	58.6	63.1
10 years	46.3	51.1	55.8	60.6
12 years	42.9	47.9	53.0	58.1
14 years	39.4	44.8	50.2	55.6
16 years	36.0	41.7	47.4	53.1

PACER laps for students aged 10 to 16

The FitnessGram PACER is the same 20 m shuttle run, scored as the total number of laps instead of a level. The table runs the Mahar equation for four example students, each with a fixed BMI so that only the laps change. Every 10 extra laps add 2.14 ml/kg/min, and every BMI point takes 0.79 away.

PACER laps	Boy, 10, BMI 18	Boy, 13, BMI 20	Girl, 13, BMI 20	Girl, 16, BMI 21
20	42.5	43.3	39.1	40.7
30	44.7	45.5	41.2	42.8
40	46.8	47.6	43.3	44.9
50	49.0	49.8	45.5	47.1
60	51.1	51.9	47.6	49.2
80	55.4	56.2	51.9	53.5

The FitnessGram software itself converts laps with its own method before placing a student in a fitness zone, so a school report can show a slightly different number. The calculator prints the published equation and says so under the result.

What the research adds

The test repeats well. When Leger's group had people run it twice, the two results correlated at 0.95 in adults and 0.89 in children. A change of one level between two tests a few weeks apart is more likely real than noise.

A single estimate is good to about 4 points. For adults Leger and Gadoury report a standard error of 4.4 ml/kg/min, Stickland about 4.1 for men and 3.6 for women, and the PACER equation 6.3. Two people whose results differ by 3 ml/kg/min may have the same aerobic fitness.

Young adults usually stop around level 8 to 10. In the Stickland study the men's average final level was 9.5, which the men's equation turns into 54.9 ml/kg/min, and the women's average was 7.8.

Body weight is already inside the result. VO2max is expressed per kilogram, and a heavier runner with the same heart and lungs reaches fewer levels, so the level equations do not ask for weight. The PACER equation adds BMI because it was fitted on children of very different builds.

Reading your number

The calculator gives the estimate and stops there on purpose. Whether 47.6 ml/kg/min is good depends on age and sex, and a rating needs norms with a named source. Type the number into the VO2max calculator for that classification. Treat the Leger and Stickland numbers as the two ends of a range rather than two competing truths: for recreational runners in their twenties the Stickland study says Leger reads low, while for anyone older the Leger equation is the one that was actually checked. This is a fitness estimate, not a medical assessment.

Shuttle run questions

Is the beep test the same as the PACER test?

Both are the 20 m multistage shuttle run with a speed that rises every minute. The British and Australian versions report a level and a shuttle; FitnessGram counts total laps and its recording runs to 247 laps. The equations differ too, so use level mode for a level and PACER mode for laps.

My sheet says 9.5. Is that level 9 and a half?

Usually not. On most score sheets 9.5 or 9/5 means level 9, shuttle 5. Type 9 and answer yes to the half-level question only if you ran at least half of the shuttles of level 9. The Leger equation uses only the whole level either way.

How is this different from the Cooper test?

The Cooper test is 12 minutes at a pace you choose, scored by distance. In the shuttle run the recording sets the pace and keeps raising it until you drop out, with a turn every 20 m. The VO2max calculator handles the Cooper and Rockport tests; this one handles only the shuttle run.

Why does PACER mode refuse a 17-year-old?

The Mahar equation was fitted on students aged 10 to 16, and stretching it further would be a guess. Level mode covers ages 8 to 90, so a 17-year-old who knows the level reached can still get an estimate.

Does a slippery gym floor change the result?

It can. Every shuttle ends in a stop and a turn, so poor grip, a short run-off area or worn shoes cost levels that the equations read as lower fitness. Compare results only from the same surface and the same recording.

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