Contents
Cooper test: the track
A mark every quarter lap. At the whistle everyone stops where they are and the distance is counted.
- What it measures
- Endurance
- Effort
- Maximal effort
- Duration
- about 20 min for a group
- Equipment
- measured track, stopwatch or phone
Set-up
A flat measured track (for example 400 m) with a mark every quarter lap, a stopwatch and a whistle.
How to run it
Run (walking is allowed) as far as possible in 12 minutes, at a pace that can be held: starting too fast is the common mistake. At the whistle, stop where you are.
What to record
The total distance in metres. Cooper's estimated VO2max formula comes from adult men: it is never a measured value.
By age
- Under 10 Not offered
- 10 to 12 Not offered
- 13 to 15 Opt-in with consent
- 16 and over Offered
Everywhere: no ranking of children, no public results, no selection from results. Under 16: parental consent and the child's own agreement. A health check before any maximal test, and stop if you feel unwell.
Reading the result
- Compare the athlete with themselves: same protocol, same surface, same measuring method. Paak publishes no age norms.
- No published retest figure: a small change may simply be day-to-day variation.
- Some sources convert this result into an estimated VO2max. It stays an estimate, never a measured value, and Paak does not show it for children.
On the test day
On the test day this test comes in position 13 of 13: short tests first, maximal efforts last, after about 5 minutes of rest (athletic test manual of the Deutscher Fechter-Bund and IAT Leipzig, 2023).
Dashed border: maximal effort. Gold: this test.
Before: 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test The field tests guide
Sources
- Cooper Institute, 12-minute run (cooperinstitute.org)
- Grant et al. 1995 validity check