Let’s talk conditioning tests, not for our athletes, but for ourselves.
What is fitness for a Strength Coach? Is it the ability to knock out back-to-back 300-yard shuttles both in under 60 seconds? Is it able to run 24 x 110s all under 14 seconds? Is it running 10×40-yard dash with 90% of your best run? You may do these conditioning tests with your athletes, or you may not, but the truth is that is for them and not you. You need an assessment that is relevant to you.
Chances are you are working a lot. Coaching tons of groups, in meetings, running around constantly. Prioritizing your health is typically low, which is ironic. What I find the most valuable of testing is the reminder that you still have a job to do and that is to stay in shape. You will have a 30-minute window to work out regardless of how busy you are. The only thing holding you back is your motivation to do so. It is never easy to coach four groups then get on the floor and get a workout in. Unfortunately, you don’t have the luxury of being soft when it comes to your health.
A conditioning test is a means to interpret how far off you are from your standards. Maybe it’s a 3-mile on an assault bike. Your best all-time is 6 minutes and 30 seconds. You go through the winter phase, you prioritize the job over your health, you eat like shit, you don’t work out, and you feel the worst you ever felt. You will not want to retest on the assault bike because you know how bad it will be. You know why it will be bad which is exactly why you should test.
The test serves as a reminder to prioritize your health. It serves as a proxy of how much you are compromising your health and performance for others. The best way to serve is to be the best version of yourself. You cannot be what you hope to be if you are not at your best. You test not when you are doing well, but when you are doing poorly. To serve as a reminder of what is important and why you need to make the commitment and stop compromising yourself.
Keep the test simple and repeatable. Keep the tech low and the execution easy to replicate. For instance, if you have a conditioning test that requires open space and you do not have a place to run in the winter, not a good test. If the test requires a lengthy warmup and stacked peri-workout nutrition, not a good test. If the tests require a huge amount of hardware and software to analyze, not a good test. The more logistics or details, the less likely you are to do it when things are stacked up. Keep the excuses low by keeping the test simple.
Remember you are not doing this for high performance, but to reinforce health. A 3mile assault bike test for time, a 5min aerobic sprint test on a Watt bike, a 3mile run on a treadmill for time, or a Cooper 12minute run test for distance are all things you should be able to do year-round regardless of where you are at. Think of if you are traveling with your team, can you do one of these tests in a hotel on the road?
That also serves as a great indicator of when. If you are in season, you will have more time but less control of your schedule. Training is routine, the less control you have, the less likely you are to stick to a routine. If we can do it in a hotel while traveling, it will kick down excuses for not exercising. Testing conditioning or fitness is catalytic to accepting that which you do not have control over and going to work to reinforce what you do. Testing is a reminder to make time for your health regardless of how you feel. Track wellness and RPE as a mechanism to interpret your psychological state relative to your physical fitness.
Never sacrifice your health for others. It is more than likely the reason you are in S&C and you should remind yourself of that more often. Conditioning tests are laggard indicators of how much or how little you are prioritizing your health, do them often.