Fitness Tests for UWH

Anybody got any good suggestions for suitable fitness tests for uwh?

I am quite familiar with the Beep Test, but I find it doesn't show enough differentiation at the high end - ie all top performers tend to get very similar results +/- a couple of lengths. I haven't really done it myself much - time consuming/ requiring others / painful - so don't have any "before & after" results to see if there is much individual improvement.

I know there is no one perfect test, so we are going to need a battery of tests to cover various aspects. Any suggestions?

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Off Half-Backs Rule

its gonna hurt no matter what, surely?

i think shuttles are a pretty good indicator of game fitness... but i have yet to figure out a way to make a measurable test.

ie, swim 2 lanes under then one lane back on surface. repeat ad auseum, ad infinitum. i think i made that last bit up.

I agree with liam. Its going to hurt always!
And shuttles are a easy way to indicate.

I now that by the dutch selection there are sometimes people from a universaty to look to those things.
By trainings but also by some games. I dont now it exactly. But it has something to do with this.

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When you are good, then you are not bad..

Hamish was onto a 200mt test, not sure how it went, did it a few years ago.
Mabe he can remember???
Over to you hamish, think it was a good 1.
Cheers
Belle
I think the beep test is a good test for personal acheivement

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Underwater Hockey Rules!

what about a 50m underwater for speed?

or even a 25m?

Hi all,

We've used a lot of tests. Some are:

- 12 minutes of swim or only legs (resistance)
- time to do 1000m of swim or legs (resistance)
- 7 minutes to do maximum times of 25 apnea (you can rest whatever you want after each lenght) (recovery apnea and speed)
- 40 x 25m apnea at a determined time (our goal was 30 seconds each serie) (recovery apnea and resistance)
- 10 x 25m apnea at a determined time and reduce this time after 10 lenghts (recovery apnea and resistance)
- 2 x 50m apnea at a determined time and reduce this time after 2 lenghts (recovery apnea and resistance)
- time of 25m apnea 4 times (speed)

I don't know which is the best, it depends what you want to test. All are odious when you're doing them...

Angel_13

My experience of the beep test was that it was primarily a test of your speed. As I'm really slow I tended to get the same result +/- 4 lengths regardless of how fit I was.

I've also found the same with the beep test. If you have a high level of fitness, it is the speed at which you can swim the 25m that is the limiting factor, not fitness.

I think the 200m test that Hamish did may be the one that David Lambert made us do which was more of an endurance test. From memory it was 5 x 200m surface swimming with fins with a 1-2 minute break in between each one. Time was recorded for each 200m and the fitter you were the more constant the times were (ie you were able to maintain your times without dropping off towards the end). Again, swimming speed is a limiting factor but as long as you only look at your own times and improvements in them, and not compare them to others, it can be a useful test.

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Breathing is overrated!

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?

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http://snorkelbattlesafari.blogspot.com/

the point is more the lactic acid buildup and fatigue etc than the speed i think... even doing the 16 second lengths is really hard to make by the time you're up to 30 lengths or whatever it is.

but there is definitely something wrong with the test when you can push 100% and throw out the same score whether when in the off-season and right before a comp... comes down to your mental state on the day and how happy you are to take the pain in some ways.