Language
Country/Area
No result found
How can a simple running test predict your cardiorespiratory fitness?
As people pay more and more attention to health, the ways to assess personal cardiorespiratory health are becoming more diverse. Among them, the Multi-stage Fitness Test (MSFT) has gradually received widespread attention due to its simple and intuitive way. Often called a beep test, this test assesses your cardiorespiratory fitness through regular running and is easy to administer and quickly reflects a participant's cardiorespiratory endurance.
The multi-stage fitness test not only measures the aerobic capacity of athletes, but is also widely used in institutions such as schools, military and sports organizations, becoming an important tool for assessing cardiorespiratory fitness.
What is a running test?
The multi-stage fitness test requires participants to run repeatedly on a marked 20-meter track. Participants need to use the buzzer from the speaker as a guide to go back and forth from the starting point to the end point at a fixed speed. Whenever the sound prompts the frequency to change, the participants need to increase their running speed. Participants who do not touch the mark within the time will receive a warning, and participants who fail to complete it twice in a row will be asked to stop the test, so that the running scores that can be recorded will be in the form of "number of layers.number of runs" Presented in a format such as 9.5.
The highest record for this test was set by a student named Dennis Mejia, who successfully completed 247 rounds of testing, which no one has ever surpassed.
Testing process
Before the test started, participants stood at the starting point of 0 meters and faced the 20-meter target mark. When the timer expires, participants start running toward the 20-meter mark with a double beep or verbal prompt. Each participant must reach the mark before the prompt sounds and then return to the starting point. For every full minute, the speed will increase by 0.5 kilometers per hour, forcing participants to further increase the intensity of their running as the speed increases.
Grading criteria
During the test, participants will receive warnings and prompts if they fail to touch the mark in time following the audio prompt. If the test is not completed for the second time, the participant's test registration will be stopped and the participant's latest completed running round will be recorded as their score. More than 90% of participants can easily reach the initial level, and changes in this standard are reflected in the regulations for each level.
Many studies have shown that VO2 max is ultimately the best indicator of a person's aerobic capacity, and the results obtained from running tests can successfully recommend cardiorespiratory endurance indicators.
VO2 max and cardiorespiratory health
VO2 max refers to the amount of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute and is considered an excellent proxy for assessing aerobic capacity. According to existing research, the correlation with VO2 max has been confirmed by many scientists. The study pointed out that based on the scores obtained from the multi-stage fitness test, reasonable predictions of the participants' VO2 max could be made.
Testing Variations and Popular Culture
Because the multi-stage fitness testing process is not subject to patent restrictions, organizations have the flexibility to adapt it to meet their needs. In recent years, this test has also become a classic in school physical education classes because of its simple way of running it, and has even become a popular social and cultural phenomenon on the Internet because of its humorous way of playing it.
More and more people are using this test as a way to assess their health, so could this simple yet effective test be part of your fitness journey?
