{"id":2648,"date":"2016-08-07T08:30:32","date_gmt":"2016-08-06T22:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scienceforsport.com\/?p=2648"},"modified":"2025-03-17T13:26:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T13:26:09","slug":"30-15-intermittent-fitness-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scienceforsport.com\/30-15-intermittent-fitness-test\/","title":{"rendered":"30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test"},"content":{"rendered":"
Contents of Article<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test (IFT) has become an extremely popular field test for the analysis of many athletes, some of which include football (soccer), field hockey, netball, and handball. The test was originally developed to measure several physical qualities\/capacities that are challenged during intermittent sports. Since then, it has been shown to be a reliable measure of VO2<\/sup> max, but this has only been compared to the University of Montreal Track Test and not \u201cgold-standard\u201d laboratory gas analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, it may not be a reliable measure of maximal aerobic speed<\/a> due to the influence of the anaerobic velocity reserve. However, this is why \u2018corrective equations\u2019 are used to calculate maximal aerobic speed<\/a> from VO2<\/sup> max tests. Amongst several other factors, change of direction capacity has been shown to influence an athlete\u2019s performance during this test, suggesting players with better capacities to repeatedly change direction may perform better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Invented by Martin Buchheit, the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test (30-15 IFT) was developed as a reference guide for interval training prescription and to measure typical physical qualities\/capacities that are challenged during intermittent sports such as football (soccer), handball, netball, and field hockey. More specifically, it was developed to measure an athlete\u2019s maximal aerobic function<\/a>, anaerobic capacity, neuromuscular and change of direction qualities, and their ability to recover during intermittent exercise (1, 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, and according to Martin Buchheit himself, the test was designed to provide the coach with an overall picture of the athlete\u2019s fitness capacity \u2013 or at least a number of these fitness qualities (3). So although we have placed this test under the \u2018aerobic\u2019 fitness testing category, it actually has several capabilities. Having said that, this diversity also means that the test cannot isolate any particular physical quality (e.g. maximal aerobic function). For example, an athlete who has a poor change of direction capacity may not perform as well \u201caerobically\u201d on the test in comparison to an athlete who has a good change of direction capacity (3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its original development, it has been diversified to do many different things. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As expressed in the name, the 30-15 IFT is an \u2018intermittent\u2019 test, which means athletes are required to perform intense exercise followed by a recovery and repeat this until volitional exhaustion. The \u201930-15\u2019 simply refers to the work-to-rest ratio\/time \u2013 meaning the test requires athletes to run for 30 seconds and then recover (i.e. walk) for 15 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to note that whenever fitness testing<\/a> is performed, it must be done in a consistent environment (i.e. facility) so it is protected from varying weather types, and with a dependable surface that is not affected by wet or slippery conditions. If the environment is not consistent, the reliability<\/a> of repeated tests at later dates can be substantially hindered and result in worthless data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What is the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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How do you conduct the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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