Cardio calculator
Queens College step test calculator
Estimate VO₂ max from the Queens College step test — three minutes of stepping, then a single 15-second pulse count. Free, instant, no sign-up.
Start counting 5 seconds after your last step and stop at 20 seconds. Optional — used for the litres-per-minute figure.
Three minutes and a stopwatch is a test you will actually repeat — the coach tracks the trend.
What is the Queens College step test?
The Queens College step test — also called the McArdle step test — was developed by William McArdle and colleagues in 1972 to measure the aerobic fitness of a whole college class at once. The step is a standard gymnasium bleacher riser, the test lasts three minutes, and the only measurement is a 15-second pulse count afterwards. It survives half a century later because it needs no treadmill, no gas analyser, and no maximal effort from the person being tested.
How this calculator works
Your 15-second count is multiplied by four to give a recovery heart rate in beats per minute, then dropped into McArdle's published regressions: VO₂ max in ml/kg/min = 111.33 − (0.42 × heart rate) for men and 65.81 − (0.1847 × heart rate) for women. The two equations were fitted to different cadences and different samples, so the men's line falls far more steeply than the women's — they are not interchangeable, and neither should be run on the other sex's stepping rate.
Running the test properly
Use a 16.25-inch (41.3 cm) step — a standard bleacher riser or gym box. Set a metronome to 96 beats per minute for men and 88 for women, taking one beat per foot movement, which gives 24 complete steps per minute for men and 22 for women. Step up-up-down-down for three minutes without pausing, standing fully upright on the step each time. Stop, stay standing, wait 5 seconds, and count your pulse from 5 to 20 seconds after the last step.
How accurate is it?
McArdle reported a standard error of roughly 16% against measured VO₂ max, which is normal for submaximal step tests and worth remembering before you compare yourself to anyone else. Two things wreck a result: drifting off the cadence, which changes the workload the equations assume, and mistiming the pulse count, since heart rate falls fast in the first minute of recovery. Use the same step, the same metronome and the same timing every time, and the test becomes a genuinely useful way to watch your own fitness move.