In today’s article I will talk about problems with fitness testing for athletes and explain how to correct them.

You will learn about:

• Test validity and how to improve it
• Test reliability
• Testing recommendations

Did you know that some of the test conducted by NCAA Div I schools are invalid?

I have heard from many national tennis coaches that their athletes’ fitness test results do not translate onto the court.

For example, there are some kids who do very well during the endurance test but they fatigue rather quickly during matches.

Why is that? Well, problems with fitness testing are a widespread phenomenon because test validity and test reliability are often compromised.

Fitness Testing: Test Validity

Test validity means that you truly assesses what you try to test, which doesn’t always happen. For example, some people use the sit & reach test to assess total body flexibility.

It is reliable, which means that subsequent tests will be consistent, but the test is not valid because the sit & reach doesn’t predict total body flexibility. Because test outcomes are affected by the individual’s limb length.

In order to ensure test validity, adherence to the following is important:

Are all test parameters consistent so you assess whatever you are supposed to test (e.g. power)? For example, there are 3 exercises that most coaches use to test power capabilities:

1) Bench Press
2) Squat
3) Deadlift

Right there, in the title, “the power lift test” is invalid because neither of the aforementioned exercises assesses power capabilities.

Because none of these exercises are performed at high/maximum velocity (Power = [Force x distance]/time).Where is the speed component?

Actually, athletes will perform these lifts in a slower fashion so that they can exert more force because they can stabilize the movement more.Therefore it assesses the opposite, strength capabilities.

How Skilled Is The Coach?

Is the tester skilled & knowledgeable in the test protocol? If the test isn’t conducted properly in an orderly fashion and/or the results are not recorded accurately then the test is invalid.

For example, when coaches try to count clap push-ups (how many can you do in 1 minutes) they run into difficulties.

Because a) if the technique is wrong/poor then the test is invalid and b) if the athletes don’t go up and down all the way then the test is unreliable (they didn’t go through the full range of motion and hence we didn’t test what we were supposed to test particularly if we compare it to performance norms).

Also, if the athletes are not NCAA division I level athletes then don’t compare them to test scores for Division I athletes, makes it invalid!

Is The Athlete Ready?

Is the athlete proficient in the test? If the athlete doesn’t know how to perform the test then the test is invalid! This is one of the prominent mistakes committed by many coaches.

Is the athlete psychological/physiological prepared to be tested? If the athlete is not motivated to do the test then it’s going to be very hard to optimize test outcomes.

Physiological preparation refers to dynamic warm-ups, which activate the nervous system.  They increase firing rate & synchronicity of muscle fibers. They enhance muscle fiber recruitment, faster afferent/efferent conversion (signal transmission), and greater flexibility of the tissue so there is less resistance within the tissue.

So, the signal is very strong and powerful (which is what we want) and you also have greater pliability of the muscle tissue, so there is less resistance within the tissue.

Athletes should not static stretch prior to testing because that creates relaxation within the muscle tissue, which decreases its ability to create maximum tension and the velocity of the tension is reduced as well.

Test Reliability

Test reliability refers to test consistency: retesting should be an exact duplication of the initial test conducted, which means that all factors need to be consistent, such as:

• the scoring system
• the test protocol that was used before
• use of the same equipment (making sure equipment is calibrated correctly)
• same warm-up routine

Now, with this in mind it is not surprising that most endurance tests conducted by coaches are invalid.

For example, why would someone have the athletes steady-state jog to assess endurance capabilities when a tennis players moves multi-planar during a match.

In other words, jogging occurs in one plane/direction (sagittal plane; forward) and assesses the endurance capabilities of the involved musculature. But a tennis player moves forward, backwards, and side-to-side, which requires contributions from various muscle groups.

Therefore, the uni-planar steady-state endurance test doesn’t test the musculature involved in multi-planar movement on the tennis court, which makes the test invalid.

Performance test, including detailed description, are presented in chapter 4 of Advanced Concepts of Strength & Conditioning.