ConverterHub

MET to VO₂ Calculator

Enter the values to get the vo₂.

How it is calculated

The conversion is a single multiplication by the standard resting value of 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute:

VO2 = MET × 3.5

MET is the activity's intensity as a multiple of resting metabolism (dimensionless) and VO2 comes out in mL/kg/min. The only input is the MET value, which must be 0 or more; a negative number returns nothing. The answer is rounded to two decimals. Body weight is not an input, because the result is already per kilogram. To get the absolute oxygen uptake in mL/min, multiply the result by your own body mass in kg; the tool does not do this step.

Worked example

An activity is listed at 7.3 METs. Multiply by the standard factor: 7.3 × 3.5 = 25.55. The oxygen uptake is 25.55 mL/kg/min. For a person of 70 kg, that corresponds to 25.55 × 70 = 1,788.5 mL of oxygen per minute, or about 1.79 L/min, though that last step is done by hand. For comparison, resting at 1 MET gives exactly 3.50 mL/kg/min.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering body weight and expecting a different answer. The tool has only a MET field, and weight cancels out because VO2 is already expressed per kilogram.
  • Reading the result as total oxygen per minute. The unit is mL per kg per minute; multiply by body mass to get mL/min, and divide by 1,000 for L/min.
  • Treating the 3.5 factor as personal. It is a standard reference value for everyone, so a given person's actual resting oxygen use can be higher or lower, and the result is an estimate of the task's demand.
  • Entering heart rate, calories or METs-per-hour instead of the MET value. Only a plain MET number such as 7.3 is converted.
  • Comparing the result directly with a VO2max given in L/min without converting the unit first.

About this calculator

A MET (metabolic equivalent of task) is defined as the energy cost of sitting quietly, standardized at 1 MET = 3.5 mL of oxygen per kg of body weight per minute. Since exercise intensity charts for treadmills, cycling and other activities are usually published in METs, converting to oxygen uptake is simple multiplication: VO₂ (mL/kg/min) = METs × 3.5.

Exercise physiologists and cardiac rehabilitation clinicians use this conversion to translate a prescribed MET level into a target VO₂ during a graded exercise test, and fitness trainers use it to compare the metabolic demand of different workouts against a client's measured or estimated VO₂max.

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