| o.k. i'm the swine that first came up with the beep test for uwh.
i agree it has reservations, especially - as Nat points out - with top end speed determining just how far guys get in the test.
this past year we [nz team] started using some new tests that, hopefully, are more indicative of all round game speed/agility and endurance v. speed.
we also used the land beep test again last year [2006] as a check to see if the water test is a good general indicator of fitness.
i think our sample group was too small to give any meaningful answers. and there were too many variables in the group - some guys had been getting lots of swimming lessons. some did lots of running work in training. some did both. some did neither.
agility test requires either a lengthy description or a short video clip. i'm not a great typist and i don't have footage of what we did. but the test is performed underwater and each 'run' takes about 16-20 seconds. only 1 instance of shallow water blackout so far. so we'll keep at it for now. acceptable losses and all that.
the speed v. endurance test is based on a test for 400m runners. we're still tinkering with the distances we swim & rest periods, but we'll get it locked down this campaign and stick with it [for control purposes] for the next 12 months.
day 1. swim 150m, on surface with fins etc, as quick as possible. record time.
day 2. swim 25, as above. rest 2 mins, swim 50m. rest 2 mins. swim 75m. record combined times.
the time difference between the 150m swim and the combined swims indicates what is needed to work on.
if 150m swim time is quicker than combined, then endurance is good, but speed isn't.
if combined time is quicker than 150m time, then speed is good, but endurance/recovery isn't.
individual players now know what to put more emphasis on in training prior to next training camp/selection.
note: so far the best score ever in the beep test we use [not the one the refs do] is 37. at that level the intervals are 14 seconds. i think anyone who can't swim 25m with fins under 14 seconds will struggle in international uwh. so maybe the beep test IS a maximal fitness test. it just needs further refinement.
who's for post-doctoral studies? |