The Queen's College Step Test measures cardiorespiratory fitness by having subjects step up and down on a platform at different rates based on gender for 3 minutes. After stopping, their heart rate is measured over 15 seconds and multiplied by 4 to calculate beats per minute, which is then plugged into a gender-specific formula to determine their VO2 max and aerobic fitness level based on normative values.

1. University’s Step Test
An Activity with the Queen’s College Step Test

2. Introduction
 The Queen’s College Step Test is one of many variations
of step test procedures, used to determine aerobic
fitness.
 The objective of this activity is to provide a measure of
cardiorespiratory or endurance fitness.

3. Procedure
 The participant steps up and down on the platform at a
rate of 22steps per minute for females and 24 steps per
minute for males.
 The subjects are to step using a four-step cadence, ‘up-
up-down-down’ for 3 minutes.
 The athlete stops immediately on completion of the
test, and the heart beats are counted for 15 seconds
from 5-20 seconds of recovery.
 Multiplying this 15 second reading by 4 would give the
beats per minute (bpm) value to be used in the
calculation below.

4. Formula
 Men: VO2max (ml/kg/min) = 111.33 – 0.42 x heart rate
(bpm)
 Women: VO2max(ml/kg/min) = 65.81 – 0.1847 x heart
rate (bpm)

5. NORMATIVE VALUES: