The Beep Test Level Table and VO2 Max Formula

TL;DR. The beep test starts at 8.0 km/h on Level 1 and adds 0.5 km/h on each subsequent level. The number after the decimal is the shuttle within that level you completed before missing the line. The Léger regression converts your final speed and your age into a VO2 max estimate. Level 11.0 maps to roughly 51 mL/kg/min for a 30-year-old. The full table and the math are below.

Most people learn the beep test by ear, which works fine until you want to convert a level number into VO2 max for your training log. The conversion is not complicated. It just has a few quirks that most online charts get slightly wrong, and the only way to read your score honestly is to know which of those quirks apply.

Beep Test Table: Complete Details for Every Level

How does the beep test progression actually work?

Each level lasts about a minute and contains a fixed number of 20-meter shuttles. As the level increments, the speed increases and the time between beeps shortens, which means the shuttle count per level grows even though the level duration stays roughly stable. Miss two consecutive lines and the test ends. Your final score is recorded as Level X.Y where X is the last completed level and Y is the shuttle within the next level you reached before failing.

The original protocol from Luc Léger and his colleagues, published in Journal of Sports Sciences (1988), defines the speeds at each level precisely. The full table below comes from that paper and from the 20-Meter Multistage Fitness Test manual that has been used in school and military testing batteries since the early 1990s.

What is the speed at each beep test level?

Level 1 starts at 8.0 km/h (about 5.0 mph). Level 2 jumps to 9.0 km/h, then every subsequent level adds 0.5 km/h. So Level 3 is 9.5 km/h, Level 4 is 10.0 km/h, Level 5 is 10.5 km/h, and so on through Level 21 at 18.5 km/h. The first jump of 1.0 km/h between Level 1 and Level 2 is the only break in the pattern.

The shuttle counts per level are also fixed. Level 1 contains 7 shuttles, Level 2 contains 8, and the count grows by one shuttle per level up to Level 11, after which it stabilizes. The reason the count grows is that the level duration is held roughly constant near 60 seconds, and as speed increases each shuttle takes less time, so more shuttles fit in the same window.

If you want the canonical reference table with all 21 levels, every shuttle count, every speed in km/h and mph, plus the time between beeps in seconds, the full lookup is on this page below the FAQ. Print it out before you run if you want to know in advance what level you need to hit to land at a target VO2 max number.

How do levels translate into VO2 max?

Through one of two regression equations. The Léger formula factors in your age and your final speed:
Vo2 max (mL/kg/min) = 31.025 + 3.238 × V – 3.248 × age + 0.1536 × V × age, where V is the final speed in km/h. Quick reference points using the Léger formula for a 30-year-old:

• Level 7 (V = 12.0 km/h) maps to about 36 mL/kg/min.
• Level 9 (V = 13.0 km/h) maps to about 43 mL/kg/min.
• Level 11 (V = 14.0 km/h) maps to about 51 mL/kg/min.
• Level 13 (V = 15.0 km/h) maps to about 60 mL/kg/min.
• Level 15 (V = 16.0 km/h) maps to about 65 mL/kg/min.
• Add or subtract roughly 2 mL/kg/min for each decade above or below age 30.

The two regressions land within 2 to 3 mL/kg/min of each other for trained subjects in their 20s and 30s. The gap widens for older athletes because the Ramsbottom formula was originally validated on military recruits in their early 20s and does not adjust for the age-related drop in maximum heart rate. If you are over 40 and want a closer estimate, the Léger formula is might be a safer choice.

Why does the speed jump get smaller after Level 2?

Because the test is calibrated against the physiological cost of accelerating, decelerating, and turning every 20 meters. The 1.0 km/h step from Level 1 to Level 2 was chosen as the minimum increment that produces a measurable effort change for very deconditioned subjects, after which the 0.5 km/h step takes over because the cost of additional speed grows non-linearly with each shuttle.

This is also why beep test levels are not linear in fitness terms. Going from Level 7 to Level 8 is roughly a 7 percent VO2 max increase. Going from Level 13 to Level 14 is closer to a 4 percent increase, even though both jumps add 0.5 km/h. Higher levels reward smaller relative speed gains because the relative effort is so much greater.

What level is good for your age?

The civilian percentile cutoffs in the FRIEND registry give the cleanest answer. For a 30-year-old male the 50th percentile sits near Level 9, the 75th near Level 10.5, the 90th near Level 11. For a 30-year-old female the same percentiles land near Level 7.5, Level 8.5, and Level 9.5. The translation to VO2 max in the prior section walks through the math.

For a richer interpretation of where your number sits and what to do with it, the breakdown of interpreting your beep test score covers the percentile chart and the longevity context. And if you want a sense of what the very top of the human distribution looks like, the verified highest beep test levels ever recorded sit between Level 17 and Level 21 depending on the source you trust.

How accurate is the level-to-VO2-max conversion?

Within 3 to 5 mL/kg/min of a lab gas-exchange test, in trained subjects, when the test is run cleanly. Tomkinson and colleagues reviewed international norms across more than a million children and adults in 2003 and found correlations between the Léger formula and direct lab measurement of r = 0.84 to 0.89, with standard errors of 4 to 6 mL/kg/min. That is the bandwidth you should plan around when comparing your beep test number to a lab number or a percentile chart.

The accuracy depends heavily on running the protocol correctly. Sloppy turns, late audio cues, an indoor surface with shorter than 20-meter spacing, or a tester who lets you off when you are a step short of the line will all produce inflated levels. The step-by-step beep test protocol covers the controls that keep the result honest. If your test feels easy past Level 12, the issue is almost always the setup, not your fitness.

If you want a sanity-check against a different field test, run a Cooper or a 1.5-mile a week later and compare. If the two estimates agree within 3 mL/kg/min, your beep test was clean. If they diverge by 5 or more, one of the two protocols was off. The full ranked comparison of the alternatives is in the beep test alternatives ranked by accuracy.

Frequently asked questions

What does Level 11.4 mean? You completed Level 11 cleanly and finished four shuttles into Level 12 before missing the line. The decimal is your shuttle count within the next level, not a fraction of a level.

Is there a sex correction in the Léger formula? No, the regression coefficients are sex-neutral. The percentile cutoffs you compare against are sex-specific, but the math from speed to VO2 max is the same.

Can I use a 15-meter shuttle distance instead of 20? Some school protocols do, particularly when gym space is short. The 15-meter version uses a different table because the time penalty of additional turns at higher speeds is not the same. Do not mix the two when comparing scores over time.

Skip the manual conversion and the level-shuttle bookkeeping. Vo2 Maximizer runs the beep test on your iPhone or Apple Watch, applies the Léger formula to your age and final speed automatically, and stores the level history alongside your Cooper, Balke, Yoyo, and 1.5-mile results.