The Bleep Test and Strength Training The beep test, bleep test or multi stage shuttle run test is traditionally run over a 20m distance. However the police and some other organisations use a 15m bleep test. This fitness article contains information on why strength training and specificity is important for your bleep test preparation! This information should be read prior to any training done when preparing for any variation of bleep test. About the 15m police bleep test The bleep test consists of two lines, 15m apart. There are 20m bleep tests but within the police the 15m one is used. An audio recording will dictate the pace of the test by way of a series of beeps. Participants will run to and from the lines keeping in time with these beeps. The time between the beeps will get progressively shorter as each level advances. The change in level is indicated by the recording. If a participant reaches the line before the beep they must wait until the beep before running on. If they arrive after the beep they have a few chances to catch up. Often by this time fatigue will have set in and the test will be over for that person. The bleep test is an efficient and time tested way of testing certain aspects of fitness. It is progressive in its nature, gradually increasing in the effort required with the aim being to cause participants to cease effort when they cannot sustain the pace. This gives a measureable result for personal fitness monitoring and job selection purposes. The speeds of a bleep test at a few select levels are as follows: Level 5-6 = 9.9km/h Level 9-10 = 12km/h Level 14-15 = 14km/h The time from the start of the test to the end of a few levels is indicated below: Level 0-6 = 4min 3sec Level 0-10 = 7min 13sec Level 0-15 = 11min 12sec The bleep test is not a continuous running action; it involves repeated stop/starts involving rapid acceleration and subsequent deceleration repeated many times over a 15m distance. “So it is only just over 11 minutes to level 15, at a speed that I am accustomed to in my treadmill running training. So why am I stopping before level 9?” I here you ask. To answer this question we need to explore what happens within our body when running, and how we can influence our performance through effective specific training. I would recommend now reading about the mechanics of running in an article I wrote on the benefits of strength training for runners. I make reference to terms discussed in that article such as elastic energy and economy. You will notice in my writing that I do have a bias towards strength training and resistance training methods. That is because they are so effective! How does this the information on strength training for runners fit in with running during the bleep test? I have discussed how elastic energy contributes to running, and how a more efficient use of this system results in more economical running. (We can run faster, or further for longer). During the bleep test there is a huge demand for having good efficiency. During the bleep tests it is vital that we do not lose energy (read: decrease efficiency) by struggling to rapidly stop, change direction and pick up speed again on each line. The body should be trained to rapidly absorb forces when stopping and apply whatever stored energy we can to push off the line. Remember a more efficient athlete can go further for longer with less energy wasted. The less delay we have in the stop-start action of the turn on the bleep test, the quicker acceleration we will have off the line. This is our reduced amortisation phase which I mentioned in strength training for runners. You need to rapidly reach top speeds over very short distances. Energy stores and the bleep test Within our body we utilise a number of different energy systems. Some of these systems are more suited to rapid bursts of activity over a short time. Others are more suited to long duration activity. In continuous or distance running we rely heavily on our long term stores of energy – the aerobic energy system. This relies heavily on the body’s ability to utilise oxygen within energy processes. Other more short term (anaerobic) energy systems may also come into play but not as much. It makes sense to briefly discuss their contribution. Obviously we cannot rely solely on our bodies “elastic energy” otherwise we would bounce around all day like kangaroos. Interestingly enough the biomechanics and physiology of a kangaroo is such that it has extremely high efficiency, storage and utilisation of elastic energy. Anyway…back to humans….we also have the energy cost of the short term energy stores to deal with which have a huge role in fuelling our body to accelerate off the line. Our short term energy stores work without much oxygen, they run out rapidly as a result. We can refuel this short term store with the presence of oxygen. Only we don’t get much chance for a steady refuelling of oxygen on the bleep test. Our body can be trained however to better utilise these short term energy systems. This will only happen if we put our body into this state of discomfort! As the test progresses we will become more reliant on our short term energy stores to fuel the increased demands for rapid acceleration. Strength, power, power endurance and the bleep test When we hit the line to change direction, there is a huge stretch on our muscles (we mentioned this earlier). It is stretching but also contracting. In other words it is lengthening but under tension. Our body is capable of absorbing high amounts of force in these conditions. We need to apply the correct strength training method to train our body to absorb forces, and tolerate eccentric loading. This should be done focussing on stability first (slower speeds lowering the weight) before progressing to faster eccentric loading. These strength parameters (our ability to lower a weight) need to be trained and are frequently neglected! Obviously we also need to train our ability to lift weight, so we can better generate forces required to push off the line and accelerate. These are forces our muscles can generate through contraction as they get shorter. This potential to generate force through muscular contraction will be added to the force generation potential of the elastic energy within muscles that is generated at rapid speeds of muscle lengthening. This means we can run faster! A stronger muscle has the potential to generate more power, providing we also train to move quickly. Power is the speed at which you can move a resistance over a given distance. In the context of the bleep test, greater power results in more effective acceleration off the line. Power endurance is therefore the ability to repeatedly perform feats of power – repeated sprints and changes of direction for example (e.g. bleep test). If you neglect resistance training within your overall program design you are missing out on a lot of opportunities for improvement. Muscle fibres and the bleep test There are different types of muscle fibre within the body, each type favouring different contraction rates and energy systems. Some fibres are better suited to feats of strength and power; their importance cannot be underestimated especially when they also have the ability to resist fatigue if trained correctly. They play a vital role in deceleration to the line and acceleration off the line in the test. If you train slowly you will be slow as your body will adapt to favour this demand. You need to train as specifically as possible for the bleep test, slow is not the answer. The body will generally recruit slower twitch muscle fibres first, until the stimulus is such that it needs to recruit faster muscle fibres. I believe it is the point when the body is recruiting these fibres where a lot of people fail in their efforts, they simply have not trained these faster twitch fibres. If they have not been trained they are not going to help you out on test day! When the power demands are high enough faster twitch muscle fibres which contract quicker come into play. The speed at which they can contract is influenced by training correctly. The below chart gives an example. The untrained group (single black line) apply less force in the same time as the trained groups. The ability to apply higher forces at quicker speeds is vital for sports performance, and certainly within the bleep test. I hope that you can see the relevance of this for being able to turn and accelerate on a line. You are absorbing a lot of forces when running. You need to be strong to absorb these forces when stopping rapidly on the line, and have the speed of muscle contraction to rapidly start moving again in the opposite direction. Summary There are many other changes which occur deep within the body systems, however we will keep this simple. I hope that by now you have a greater understanding of what is going within your body. To summarise: • The storage and rapid use of elastic energy can contribute to running performance during the bleep test, providing we are efficient in using this. • Stronger muscles can result in the same work being done with less energy. • Stronger muscles have the potential to move faster. • We need to train faster to have direct influence on the energy systems and type of muscle fibre which impact our bleep test results. • With the high demand for reactive strength (stop/start) we must have a stable foundation for which to apply these forces. If you are interested in strength training program design for a bleep test do get in touch.    Bridgeman fitness training aims to provide top quality fitness training advice, exercise information and educational resources for all fitness enthusiasts.  Expert fitness advice Related Bleep Test and Strength Training Articles Strength Training for Runners Bleep Test Training Errors 15m Police Bleep Test Mp3 Bridgeman Fitness Home SEARCH THIS SITE FACEBOOK