Estimating Cardiovascular Fitness (V02 Max) with METS

When you do aerobic exercise, the first thing that happens is that you start to breath more heavily.  As you breath more heavily and more rapidly, you begin extracting more oxygen from the air so that you can deliver it to your muscles for aerobic respiration.  This is the type of respiration that allows you to burn fat for energy.  So, if your lungs and breathing are efficient, then you can more easily take in oxygen and deliver it to the bloodstream.  To increase the amount of oxygen going to muscles, your heart starts pumping harder and your heart rate goes up.  So, your heart needs to be efficient in order to pump large amounts of blood quickly to the muscles.  Finally, your muscles then absorb that oxygen and process it through the process of aerobic respiration.  The muscles too need to be efficient to absorb the maximum amount of oxygen and maintain aerobic respiration.  The efficiency of this entire system can be estimated by the amount of effort that it takes to become fatigued.  The efficiency of the system can also be measured by a special test called a V02 Max test.

The Fitness level can be estimated by understanding the concept of Metabolic Equivalents or “METS”.  This is a method for gauging your overall capacity by describing the relationship of an activity to how much energy is expended at rest or while sleeping.  At complete rest, you are burning 1 MET of energy.  As you increase your activity level, you will begin burning more energy to sustain that activity.  Fitness experts have compared the amount of energy expended and compared it to the amount of energy needed while at rest.  Using METS works well particularly for people in the lower levels of Fitness where there is some difficulty even with such activities as walking up a flight of stairs carrying groceries.  Use the Table below to Estimate Your Fitness Capacity using METS.

Physical Activity Intensity in METS and estimated V02 Max

Activity	METS	V02 max
Sleeping	.9	3.5
Watching TV	1	3.5
Writing, desk work	1.8	6.3
Walking, level ground, very slowly	2.3	8
Water Aerobics and Water Exercises	2.8	9.8
Walking, slowly (2.5 mph)	2.9	10.3
Weightlifting (8-15 repetitions), light effort	3.5	12.25
Calisthenics (push-ups, pull-ups, squats), moderate effort	3.8	13.3
Pilates	3.8	13.3
Walking, moderate pace (3 mph)	3.3	11.5
Cycling, leisure for work or pleasure	4	14
Walking, briskly (4 mph)	5	17.5
Walking, slowly light 15 lb load	5	17.5
Golf, pulling clubs	5.3	18.5
Stationary Bike, Light Effort	5.5	19.2
Cycling, 9-10 mph	5.8	20.3
Hiking, light pack	6	21
Weightlifting, Vigorous effort	6	21
Jogging	7	24.5
Backpacking, heavy pack	7.8	27.3
Climbing stairs	8	28
Calisthenics (jumping jacks), vigorous effort	8	28
Running in place	8	28
Biking, 13 mph	8	28
Rock climbing	8	28
Swimming, crawl, medium-speed (50 yd/min)	8.3	29
Rowing, 150 watts or 8.6 mph	8.5	29.7
Running, (10-minute mile pace)	9.8	34.3
Biking, 15 mph	10	35
Swimming, crawl, vigorous (75 yd/min)	10	35
Jumping Rope	11	38.5
Swimming, Butterfly Stroke	11.1	38.8
Rowing, 200 watts, 9.3 mph	12	42
Biking 17-18 mph	12	42
Running (7-minute mile pace)	12.3	43