We think this is a standard test everyone has done in their lifetime. Some for Phys Ed class, others for team fitness testing.
Without going into all the intricacies of the test, today's sports coaches are questioning whether it's even worth doing in the first place.
The issue is the specificity of the actual test itself, it's not sport-specific. We don't know any sports that are continuous in running shuttles. All court and field-based sports may have repeated efforts that are intermittent in nature with varying work and rest periods.
There are tests that are better representative of fitness for athletes which include the Yo-Yo IRT. Yes, there are also many more aerobic fitness tests available.
The Yo-Yo test solves the problem of being more sport-specific towards the field and court-based sports due to the stop-start nature. Great for court and field-based athletes.
Yes, the beep test can be valuable for the general population, but as you get into the more athletic population, selecting the best-suited test will yield results that are indicative of the sport.
At Inner Athlete, we don't do aerobic fitness testing, partly due to time constraints. We believe that tracking and recording athlete's training programs and subjective/objective reports from the athletes themselves can be a good indicator of their level of fitness.
Contact Inner Athlete today, your Youth Athlete Specialists to get your young athlete starting on their individual training program.
Trent Pirihi
Found and Head Strength Coach
Inner Athlete (AUS)
