Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Health & Fitness
  3. News

Here’s why fitness buffs recommend the Cooper test to check aerobic fitness

Test your cardiovascular endurance with the 12-minute Cooper test.

By
Running legs on a track
Endho / Pixabay

Over the years, people have invented all sorts of methods and ways to test aerobic fitness, from seeing who can perform the most push-ups to a treadmill test with a medical professional who provides data on your blood pressure, heart rate, and more. One of the increasingly popular methods fitness buffs recommend is the Cooper test. This short test measures the distance you can cover in a specific time to assess your cardiovascular endurance.

What is cardiovascular endurance?

running track outdoors
Ben Soyka / Unsplash

Cardiovascular endurance is your body’s ability to continue physical activity for prolonged periods without getting fatigued. Your cardiovascular endurance is a measure of the ability of your heart, blood vessels, and lungs to deliver oxygen to your muscles while you’re exercising. You can improve it by engaging in regular aerobic exercise like running, dancing, or cycling.

Recommended Videos

You can test your cardiovascular endurance with different tests, including the VO2 max test and the Cooper test.

What is the Cooper test?

black tennis shoes on running track
Mezzotint / Shutterstock

The Cooper test is a 12-minute physical fitness test originally designed by Kenneth H. Cooper in 1968. Dr. Cooper found a high correlation between how far someone can run or walk in 12 minutes and their VO2 max value.

When you take the test, you run as far as you possibly can for 12 minutes, and that distance you manage to cover is used to estimate your maximum oxygen uptake or VO2 max and your aerobic fitness. The distance is compared to charts based on sex and age to determine your fitness level.

Cooper tests are usually done on a running track using a stopwatch and cones placed at varying distances. If you aren’t performing the test with a personal trainer or fitness professional, the best way to get your test results and compare yourself with others of your age and gender is by using the online 12-minute test results calculator. 

What’s a good score?

Man with red shorts legs running on track with shadow behind him
Clem Onojeghuo / Unsplash

You can find the Cooper test scores for men and women listed with some calculators. For example:

  • For males aged 20-29, the average score is 2200-2399 meters, and the above average score is 2400-2800 meters. 
  • For men aged 30-39, the average score is 1900-2299 meters, and the above average score is 2300-2700 meters.

The importance of warming up

Man stretching in workout clothes
Andrea Piacquadio / Pexels

Most fitness experts and professionals recommend warming up before attempting this vigorous challenge. Try stretching your muscles and completing a short 10 to 15-minute warm-up of low to moderate intensity before you try to run as fast and far as you can for those 12 minutes.

Steph Green
Steph Green
Steph Green (Steph Zee) is a singer-songwriter and professional writer with over 12 years of experience in healthcare and… Read Full Bio
Topics
Health & Fitness
The Manual’s Health & Wellness Awards Are Open for Submissions
Clothing, Footwear, Shoe

For years, The Manual has told readers which products actually work. Not which ones arrived in the nicest box, and not which brand bought the most media. Which ones held up after weeks of real use, and were still worth reaching for at the end.

Now we’re bringing that same approach to health. Introducing The Manual Health & Wellness Awards 2026, our first awards program dedicated to the products that help men sleep, train, recover, and feel better. And it’s open to submissions.

Read more
Health & Fitness
Ditching the boring golf gear: Travis Mathew and Liberty London collaborate to bring personality to the course
Chair, Furniture, Person

I remember watching golf when I was a kid; everyone, and I mean everyone, looked the same. There are rules on a golf course. A collared shirt, no denim, a very specific look is what they go for. It is tradition, and tradition is hard to argue with. Then came Tiger Woods and John Daly. Tiger found a way to make this boring tradition a uniform. You could see the red Nike polo and black pants and knew exactly who it was. Daly? Well, he went the other way and patterns became a wild calling card. Travis Mathew and Liberty London found a way to mix both of these concepts to bring a bold new look to the game of golf.

What makes this collaboration particularly exciting is seeing Liberty’s heritage designs and colour language brought into the world of golf in such a fresh way. The striking print combinations, considered handfeel, and balance of high-performance golfwear with relaxed lifestyle pieces create a collaboration that feels both unexpected and distinctly Liberty. – Pere Bruach, Design Manager at Liberty London

Read more
Health & Fitness
After 19 Years Away From Basketball, Armando Rodriguez Found His Way Back With Grit, AI, and a Passion That Never Left
Armando Rodriguez basketball player

For basketball enthusiasts, there’s something uniquely inviting and invigorating about the sport. The squeaks as the players move around the shiny court, the whoosh of the spinning ball through the air, and the rush of victory when the basketball glides smoothly through the hoop or bounces off the backboard before the descent. The fast thinking, maneuvers, strategy, and thrill of the game draw people who play for decades.

Sometimes, people are suddenly facing life-changing circumstances that cause them to turn away from the game they love. For skilled basketball player Armando Rodriguez, he stopped playing after a complete T9 spinal cord injury at the young age of 25.

Read more