Queen's College Step Test: Description, Pictures and Video

DESCRIPTION

The Queens College Step test is one of many variations of step test procedures, used
to determine aerobic fitness.

OBJECTIVE

This sub-maximal test provides a measure of cardiorespiratory or endurance fitness.

EQUIPMENTS

16.25 inches / 41.3 cm step, stopwatch

PROCEDURE

The participant steps up and down on the platform at a rate of 22 steps per minute for
females and at 24 steps per minute for males. The subjects are to step using a four-step cadence, 'upup-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. Multiply this 15 second reading by 4 will give the beats per minute (bpm) value to be used in the calculation below.

SCORING

An estimation of VO2max can be calculated from the test results, using this formula
(McArdle et al.,1972). A rating can be determined using the VO2max norms (see attached table).
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)

Below is a video that the group prepared to show how Queen's College Step Test works.

VO2 max Norms

VO2max is a measure of a person's aerobic fitness. The table below categorizes VO2max scores for adult men and women of various ages. These are relative VO2max scores, in the units of ml of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute (ml.kg-1.min-1).

Source:

Retrieved from http://haroldgibbons.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/how-important-is-vo2-max/. (2011)