For overweight and inactive women, the Rockport One-Mile Fitness Walking Test provides a reasonable estimate of cardiorespiratory fitness. The purpose of the test is for the client to walk as fast as possible for 1 mile, either on a treadmill or on a flat 1-mile course. After the client completes the mile, the Health and Fitness Professional should measure the client’s heart rate immediately. If a heart rate monitor is not available, the Health and Fitness Professional can take the pulse manually for 10 seconds, and multiply that number by 6 to get the number of beats per minute.
Do not count a pulse for an entire minute because the heart will start to decrease over that minute, changing the test results. The Health and Fitness Professional should also note the exact time it took the client to complete the mile.
Health and Fitness Professionals should use the following steps to estimate a cardiorespiratory starting point (10). They should then modify the starting
point based on the ability level. Once determined, Health and Fitness Professionals should refer to the Cardiorespiratory Fitness Training chapter of this text for specific programming strategies.
Step one:
Record the client’s weight and have the client walk 1 mile, as fast as she can control, on a treadmill. Record the time it takes the client to complete the walk. Immediately record the client’s heart rate (in beats
per minute) at the 1-mile mark. Then use the formula below to determine the client’s oxygen consumption (VO2) score (10).
132.853 - (0.0769 × weight in pounds) - (0.3877 × age in years) + (6.315 × gender, which is a 0 for women) - (3.2649 × time in minutes) - (0.1565 × heart rate in beats per minute) = VO2 score
The following shows how to calculate the VO2 score for a 57-year-old female client who weighs 123 lb and walks 1 mile in 18 minutes, with at a heart rate of 112 beats per minute at the end of the 1 mile walk.
132.853 - (0.0769 x 123) - (0.3877 x 57) + (6.315 x 0) – (3.2649 x 18) – (0.1565 x 112) = 24.9
This client has a VO2 max score of 24.9
Step two:
Locate the client’s VO2 score using the Rockport Walk Test Norms Chart (Table 4.6).
Step three:
Determine the appropriate starting program using the appropriate category.
- Poor: Zone one (65 - 75% of HRmax)
- Fair: Zone one (65 - 75% of HRmax)
- Average: Zone two (76 - 85%of HRmax)
- Good: Zone two (76 - 85% of HRmax)
- Very good: Zone three (86–95% of HRmax)
Step four:
Determine the client’s maximal heart rate by subtracting the client’s age from the number 220 (220
– age). Then, take the maximal heart rate and multiply it by the following percentages (in decimal form) to determine the appropriate starting heart rate ranges for each zone.
- Zone one: (Maximal heart rate × 0.65) to (Maximal heart rate × 0.75)
- Zone two: (Maximal heart rate × 0.76) to (Maximal heart rate × 0.85)
- Zone three: (Maximal heart rate × 0.86) to (Maximal heart rate × 0.95)
Refer to the Cardiorespiratory Fitness Training chapter for proper use of these zones through specific stage training programs. Health and Fitness Professionals can use the Karvonen formula, or HRR formula, may be used instead of the straight percentage method (220-age) to determine the appropriate exercise intensity once they establish the client’s baseline cardiorespiratory fitness level.