The purpose of this study was to determine whether an individually designed incremental exercise protocol results in greater rates of oxygen uptake (VO2max) than standardized testing. Fourteen well-trained, male runners performed five incremental protocols in randomized order to measure their VO2max: i) an incremental test (INCS+I) with pre-defined increases in speed (2 min at 8.64 km.h(-1), then a rise of 1.44 km.h(-1) every 30 s up to 14.4 km.h(-1)) and thereafter inclination (0.5.every 30 s); ii) an incremental test (INCI) at constant speed (14.4 km.h(-1)) and increasing inclination (2 degrees every 2 min from the initial 0 degrees); iii) an incremental test (INCS) at constant inclination (0 degrees) and increasing speed (0.5 km.h(-1) every 30 s from the initial 12.0 km.h(-1)); iv) a graded exercise protocol (GXP) at a 1 degrees incline with increasing speed (initially 8.64 km.h(-1) + 1.44 km.h(-1) every 5 min); v) an individual exercise protocol (INDXP) in which the runner chose the inclination and speed. VO2max was lowest (-4.2%) during the GXP (p = 0.01; d = 0.06 - 0.61) compared to all other tests. The highest rating of perceived exertion, heart rate, ventilation and end-exercise blood lactate concentration were similar between the different protocols (p < 0.05). The time to exhaustion ranged from 7 min 18 sec (INCS) to 25 min 30 sec (GXP) (p = 0.01). The VO2max attained by employing an individual treadmill protocol does not differ from the values derived from various standardized incremental protocols.