VEMAYour VMA, measured. Not guessed.
VAMEVAL, Cooper, half-Cooper: three protocols run on a treadmill, a track that moves at exactly the right pace, and training paces that hold up.
One-time purchase · no subscription · no ads · no network
How a session goes
Three screens, then all you have to do is run.
Set up
Protocol, treadmill gradient, heart-rate sensor. Session context is optional.
Run
Vema announces each stage five seconds ahead and tracks your progress around the track.
Read the report
Speed, VO2max, test validity, training paces — every value with its provenance.
Three protocols, three curves
Time to exhaustion at maximal aerobic speed sits between 4 and 8 minutes. A 12-minute test is therefore run below it, so the series stay separated by protocol — never quietly merged.
VAMEVAL
Vema sets the pace and warns you at every stage. The speed retained is that of the last stage completed in full.
Cooper
Distance read off the console, or rebuilt by flagging each speed change. Produces a usable pace profile.
Half-Cooper
Closer to true maximal aerobic speed than Cooper. The VO2max it yields is an estimate of an estimate, and is labelled as such.
±0.5 km/h: the margin nobody mentions
That is roughly the test-retest reliability of maximal aerobic speed. Going from 15.5 to 16.0 is therefore not measurable progress — it is noise. Vema draws that band around your trend and stays quiet until the gap leaves it, even if that means saying nothing for months.
What Vema does
Three protocols run end to end, a maximal aerobic speed you can defend, and training paces you can use straight away.
Track and cones
The test screen shows a 400 m track marked every 20 m. The dot moves at the speed the protocol dictates, with a beep at each cone — switchable off.
Five-second warning
Five seconds before each stage, Vema announces the next speed. Your music keeps playing; the announcement comes over it.
Drift-free clock
Timing runs on a monotonic clock. Across twenty minutes of testing, not one stage lands late.
No duplicate heart rate
Chest strap, wrist band broadcasting heart rate, or Apple Watch. Vema shows your heart rate but never writes it back to Health — no duplicates.
Honest progress
Test-retest reliability for maximal aerobic speed is around ±0.5 km/h. Vema draws that band and only calls progress when the gap leaves it.
Pace table
Easy running, threshold, 1000 m repeats, 30/30, short intervals — as treadmill speed and as track pace.
⚠️ Important — health
A maximal aerobic speed test is an all-out effort taken to exhaustion. Make sure you are fit to do it: if in any doubt, or with a cardiac history, ongoing treatment or a long break from training, seek medical advice first. Vema is a measurement tool, not a medical examination, and detects no abnormality. Use at your own risk.
Frequently asked
Why not put all three protocols on one curve?
Because they do not measure the same thing. Time to exhaustion at maximal aerobic speed sits between 4 and 8 minutes, so a twelve-minute Cooper is necessarily run below it. Merging them would create an artificial step. A normalised curve is available as an option, with an adjustable factor, and every corrected point carries a visible marker.
Why set the treadmill to a 1 % gradient?
On the flat, treadmill running costs less energy than running outdoors: there is no air to push. A 1 % gradient restores the equivalence above roughly 8 km/h (Jones & Doust, 1996). Without it your result reads high, and the paces derived from it are unsustainable on a track.
Does Vema write my heart rate to Health?
No, never. It displays it and keeps it locally, but does not write it back: it would be attributed to Vema and duplicate what your watch or band already recorded. The workout and the VO2max are saved, though.
What if my heart-rate sensor drops out mid-test?
The test is not lost. At the end, Vema queries Health over the test window: if your watch or band has synced in the meantime, the denser series is retained, and both are kept along with their provenance.
Requirements
iPhone on iOS 17 or later; Apple Watch on watchOS 10 for continuous heart rate. Standard Bluetooth heart-rate sensors supported. No account, no ads, no network access.
Stop estimating your VMA by feel.
Vema — three protocols, one measurement, and nothing leaving your iPhone.