Human energy expenditure during level walking on a treadmill at speeds of 54-130 m min-1

Controversy exists in the literature as to the accuracy of the formulae used in predicting oxygen consumption (VO2) during level walking. The purpose of this study was to develop an equation for use at speeds of 54-130 m min-1. The VO2 and energy expenditure (EE) of 25 healthy subjects were measured while walking on a level, motor-driven treadmill at four varying speeds (54, 81, 107 and 130 m min-1). The regression analyses revealed that a quadratic model was a better predictor (p less than 0.05) of both the VO2 and EE than a linear model. The quadratic equation relating VO2 and EE to walking speed (X) is as follows: VO2 (ml kg-1 min-1) = 17.77 - 0.3023X(m min-1) + 0.0027X2 (R2 = 0.935, SEE = 1.5) EE (kcal min-1) = 6.14 - 0.1076X (m min-1) + 0.00093X2 (R2 = 0.830, SEE = 0.89).