Beep Test: Levels, Scoring and VO2 Max

You will run 20 meters, touch the line, turn, and run back. A beep signals the start of each shuttle. After two minutes, the beeps get faster. The 20m shuttle run, also called the beep test or multistage fitness test, forces you to increase your speed every stage until you cannot reach the line in time. The test ends after you miss the line twice in a row. Your final stage speed is the number that predicts your VO2 max.

Starting Speed and Stage Duration

The test begins at 8.0 km/h. Each stage lasts two minutes. Every two minutes the required speed rises by 0.5 km/h. At the end of each 20m shuttle you turn 180° and run back. The pace is set by an audio track: beeps spaced to match the current speed. Missing the line on two consecutive shuttles ends your test.

The Speed to Shuttle Conversion

Because the test uses shuttles, not continuous running, the speed is the average pace required to cover the 20m distance between beeps. At stage one, 8.0 km/h, you have roughly 9 seconds to cover 20m. By stage 10 (12.5 km/h), you have about 5.76 seconds. The level you reach is your final stage, and that stage's speed in km/h is the value X in the VO2 max equation.

Each level corresponds to a stage number. The table below shows the relationship between the level reached and the speed in km/h. Stage 1 is 8.0 km/h. Stage 2 is 8.5 km/h, and so on. The formula uses the final stage speed, not the number of shuttles completed.

Stage 1: 8.0 km/h. Stage 2: 8.5 km/h. Stage 3: 9.0 km/h. Stage 4: 9.5 km/h. Stage 5: 10.0 km/h. Stage 6: 10.5 km/h. Stage 7: 11.0 km/h. Stage 8: 11.5 km/h. Stage 9: 12.0 km/h. Stage 10: 12.5 km/h. Stage 11: 13.0 km/h. Stage 12: 13.5 km/h. Stage 13: 14.0 km/h. Stage 14: 14.5 km/h. Stage 15: 15.0 km/h. Most adults stop between stage 6 (10.5 km/h) and stage 12 (13.5 km/h). A stage 10 finish at 12.5 km/h is a strong score for a recreational runner.

The beep test VO2 max equation comes from Léger LA, Mercier D, Gadoury C, Lambert J, 1988. The formula is: VO2 max (mL/kg/min) = 31.025 + (3.238 × X) - (3.248 × A) + (0.1536 × X × A). X is your final stage speed in km/h. A is your age in years.

Worked Example

A 30-year-old runner reaches stage 10 (12.5 km/h). X = 12.5. A = 30. Calculation: 31.025 + (3.238 × 12.5) - (3.248 × 30) + (0.1536 × 12.5 × 30). 31.025 + 40.475 - 97.44 + 57.6 = 31.66 mL/kg/min. This is the estimated VO2 max. A 40-year-old reaching the same stage 10: 31.025 + 40.475 - 129.92 + 76.8 = 18.38 mL/kg/min. The age penalty is large in this equation.

Adult vs. Child Equations

The Léger equation was validated on adults. For children aged 9-17, use the norms from Tomkinson GR et al., 2017. The Tomkinson data reports total shuttles completed by age and sex, not VO2 max directly. The audio versions also differ: the original Léger protocol uses 2-minute stages, but some audio tracks for children shorten stages to 1 minute. Confirm which protocol your audio track follows before testing a group.

The only published norms for the 20m shuttle run are the Tomkinson norms for children, released in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2017. They cover ages 9-17 and give percentile ranks by sex. No similarly large adult norms exist from the original source. Adult scores are interpreted via the VO2 max estimate, then compared to generic VO2 max ranges by age and gender. The FRIEND registry (Kaminsky 2022) provides the largest lab-tested adult VO2 max norms, but those come from treadmill tests, not the beep test.

How to Read the Tomkinson Norms

The Tomkinson data reports total shuttles, not stage speed. A 12-year-old boy who completes 60 shuttles might be at the 50th percentile for his age. The exact values are published in the 2017 paper and updated only when new research is released. For children, the beep test is a practical field test because it requires minimal equipment and is easy to administer in a school setting.

The biggest failure in the beep test is pacing. Since the speed increases every two minutes, a runner who starts too fast on early shuttles may fail to reach the line on later stages, ending the test prematurely. This underestimates VO2 max. The test requires maximal effort, but maximal effort does not mean sprinting the first shuttle. Run at the exact speed the beeps demand. If you miss the line on one shuttle, the test continues; missing twice in a row ends it, so recover and adjust.

Audio versions vary. Some recordings use 1-minute stages for children. Some use a single beep for each shuttle, others use a countdown. Always match the audio to the protocol you intend to use. The original Léger protocol (1988) uses 2-minute stages and 0.5 km/h increments. If your audio track follows a different pattern, the stage speed and level numbers will not match the VO2 max conversion table.

The Léger study reported a correlation of r=0.71 to 0.84 between the beep test and lab-measured VO2 max. That means the field test explains roughly 50% to 70% of the variation in true VO2 max. Individual error can be 10-20%, especially if the test-taker is not well-practiced at pacing the shuttles. Compare this to the Cooper test, which has a similar error margin of ±10-15% in the original 1968 paper. Smartwatch estimates from Garmin or Apple Watch Cardio Fitness Score have a typical gap of 5-15% overestimate, based on algorithm assumptions about running economy and heart rate response. No field test replaces a lab test for precision.