The Beep Test

The dreaded Beep Test; our beautiful inspiration.

What has come to be known as the Beep Test was first published in several academic papers during the 1980s by Canadian sports scientist Luc Leger and several colleagues.

The papers* presented what the researchers called the multistage 20 metre shuttle run test which they had developed to estimate aerobic capacity in school children. The papers are quite scientific and seek to estimate 'VO2 max' (a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen the body can utilise during exercise) for different age groups.

This test or protocol is what has come to be known as the Beep Test. The researchers didn't use this name anywhere in their published work but because of the beeps, everyone else does! Today the test is used by police forces and fire brigades, amongst others, to assess the fitness levels of prospective recruits. And it seems lots of us have performed it at some point; perhaps at school (for some reason!) or with a local sporting club. It also goes by a few other names, including the Bleep Test, the Leger Test, and the Shuttle Run Test.

The original protocol is as follows:

• A 20-metre shuttle

• Shuttles during the first level require a speed of 8.5km/h

• During each subsequent level the required shuttle speed increases by 0.5km/h

• The final level is 21 (impossible to reach!) with a required speed of 18.5km/h

• Each level is approximately one minute long (sometimes a little less, occasionally one minute exactly, sometimes a little more)

It is simple to set up; a 'start' marker and a 'return' marker are placed 20 metres apart. Participants are required to run between the markers in time with audible beeps!

If you do not already have the app, check out the most popular version of the Beep Test here.

Beep Training is clearly inspired by the Beep Test. The Beep-Standard workouts are most like the original protocol in that shuttle speeds always increase as the workout progresses but there are two key differences; the shuttle length is not fixed at 20 metres and the start level can be varied (between level 1 and level 14). More generally, Beep Training is much more flexible than the one-size-fits-all approach of the original test.

The app includes two popular versions of the Beep Test. One version follows the original Leger protocol outlined above (where levels are approximately one minute long). The other Standard version is exactly the same except that levels are at least one minute long. This slight difference has no negligible impact on test results.

Note that the levels in all Beep Training workouts follow the Standard convention; levels are all at least one minute long (never less).

The timings and structure of the Standard Beep Test are below.

*If you are interested in the history, of several papers published by Leger, the most relevant is:

Leger, L.A., Lambert, J., Goulet, A., Rowan, C., & Dinelle, Y. (1984) "Aerobic capacity of 6 to 17-year-old Quebecois--20 meter shuttle run test with 1 minute stages". Canadian Journal of Applied Sport Sciences, 9(2), 64-69.