The Bleep Press-up Test - Version February 2010.

Personal Fitness Tests provides useful tools to help you to work towards and achieve your fitness goals. Not only do we provide challenging fitness tests, but by using these regularly could also increase your fitness, muscular strength, muscular endurance and cardiovascular capacity.

Fitness testing is a way of gaining information about the health related and skill related components of an athletes fitness. Testing can take place in a number of environments, with laboratory testing being the most accurate, however there is still a large range of tests that can be carried out, away from a lab, which provide a lot of useful information.

Please find the following fitness tests offered by Personal Fitness Tests:

• The Bleep Press-up Test - Version February 2010.
• The Bleep Sit-up Test - Version February 2010.
• The Bleep Test - Version August 2009.
• The Bleep Personal Fitness Test - Version August 2010.
• The Bleep Test Training Program - Version May 2011.

Performance in any sporting event is the result of a multitude of factors, which include the amount of training performed, the body's adaptation to the training, motivation level, nutritional status and weather conditions to name a few. As you can see, physiological parameters only account for a portion of any performance, and so the role of any exercise physiologist is also similarly limited. Through fitness testing, the factors involving physiological processes, over which there is some control, can be measured and ultimately improved upon.

Competition is the ultimate test of performance capability, and is therefore the best indication of training success. However, when trying to maximize performance, it is important to determine the athlete's ability in individual aspects of performance. Fitness testing attempts to measure individual components of performance, with the ultimate aim of studying and maximizing the athlete's ability in each component.

Reasons for Fitness Testing

• To highlight the strengths and weakness of an athlete enabling a training program to be devised which addresses the findings
• To evaluate a training program, to see if it is helping the athlete in achieving set goals
• To measure fitness levels following injury, illness or following the off season
• To assist in setting goals
• To determine health status (in the non-sporting population)
• Talent identification
• To aid motivation

Principles of Fitness Testing

In order for fitness testing to be accurate and worthwhile, a number of principles must be followed:

• Specificity: Fitness tests must assess an individuals fitness for the activity or sport in question. For example, there is little point in using a running endurance test to assess an athletes improvement in cycling endurance.
• Validity: Fitness tests must measure the component of fitness that they are supposed to. For example, is your sit and reach test measuring solely the flexibility of the hamstrings or are there other factors involved?
• Objectivity: Sometimes also known as inter tester reliability. A test that is objective will produce the same results for the same individual, regardless of the tester, or technician administering the test
• Reliability: A reliable test produces the same results if repeated. For example, an assessor trained in skin-fold measurements will produce the same result, when the same area is re-tested shortly after.

Factors Which May Affect Fitness Tests

Fitness tests are subject to a large number of internal and external variables which may affect the outcome of the test. When performing a repeat test, it is important to try to limit as many variables as possible by ensuring the conditions/circumstances are exactly the same as during the previous test.

• Time of the day
• Weather conditions
• Environment (surface/noise/presence of other people)
• A different assessor
• Accuracy of measurements
• Test protocol not followed exactly as before
• Time since the athletes last meal
• Athletes emotions
• Athletes state of hydration
• Athletes health (recent colds/illness)
• Medication the athlete may be taking