How Interval Training Can Improve Your Beep Test Score
Spice Your Beep Test Training Up With Interval Training
The beep test really is a unique fitness activity. It doesn’t focus heavily on low intensity and long distances nor does it focus on very high intensity and short distances. Part of the reason the beep test is so challenging is that it takes participants through a full range of intensity levels.
For most activities there is a dominant pattern or intensity level. With the beep test we get to experience them all!
When you start the beep test the intensity level is quite low, but of course that is short lived. It doesn’t take long before the heart rate starts to climb in response to the intensity levels climbing.
When I speak with people about their beep test experiences I often hear the comment, “I don’t understand why I couldn’t get a higher score? I’m actually pretty fit!”
As personal trainers and coaches we understand that fitness has many components and whilst a person may be “fit” for one activity they may not be “fit” for another. This is usually because of the type of training that person would normally do.
At some point, regardless of “fitness” everyone doing the beep test will experience a very high working heart rate. It is usually around this time that people drop out of the beep test.
In order to prolong the test we need to train our bodies to better cope with the demands of a very high working heart rate. If we can condition the body, through the right beep test training program, we can potentially continue with the test for an additional 60 seconds, 120 seconds or even more.
If we could achieve this improvement in conditioning it would effectively increase our beep test scores by one full level for each 60 seconds we’re able to continue with the test.
One of my favorite training drills to achieve an improvement in conditioning at a high intensity working heart rate zone is through the use of interval training. This type of training is where the drills or activities cause the heart rate to rise to a very high intensity for a short period of time. The heart rate is then allowed to reduce to a moderate level for a short period of time before rising again, then falling again. This rising and falling, in intervals, conditions the body to cope with the stress created at the business end of the beep test.
I use interval training to achieve this conditioning with my beep test clients and find it to be very effective.
Enjoy you beep test training!