Tests for each component
- Cardiovascular endurance: the multi-stage fitness test (bleep test) or the Cooper 12-minute run or swim.
- Strength: the handgrip dynamometer test.
- Muscular endurance: the sit-up bleep test.
- Speed: the 30 m sprint test.
- Power: the vertical jump test.
- Agility: the Illinois agility run test.
- Balance: the standing stork test.
- Coordination: the wall toss test.
- Reaction time: the ruler drop test.
- Flexibility: the sit and reach test.
Why test fitness
- To find strengths and weaknesses, and so plan training.
- To monitor progress and see if training is working.
- To set goals and motivate the performer.
- To compare results with national averages (normative data) or with others.
- To give variety to training.
Limitations of fitness tests
- Many tests aren't sport-specific, and don't copy the movements or conditions of a real game.
- Some are sub-maximal, so the result depends on how hard the performer tries.
- The way a test is done isn't always the same (reliability), such as a different surface or temperature.
- Some tests need specialist equipment or a trained tester.
Collecting and using data
- Quantitative data is numbers, such as 45 cm in the sit and reach. Qualitative data is descriptions or opinions, such as "I felt tired".
- To make tests reliable, keep the conditions the same each time: same time of day, surface, warm-up and tester.
Key terms
- Multi-stage fitness test
- A test of cardiovascular endurance where you run 20 m shuttles to bleeps that get faster.
- Normative data
- National average results used for comparison.
- Reliability
- Whether a test gives the same result when repeated in the same conditions.
- Validity
- Whether a test measures what it claims to measure.
- Maximal test
- A test where the performer works as hard as possible.
- Sub-maximal test
- A test where the performer works below their maximum.
- Quantitative data
- Data in the form of numbers.
- Qualitative data
- Data in the form of descriptions or opinions.