Basketball players have unique body types. They are taller than their peers in other sports and have longer limbs. The skills that are exhibited due to the sport and culture of basketball are high in both volume and intensity, taking into account the number of minutes played. The length of the training and competition schedule and aerobic fitness are critical to the longevity of these athletes.
As a rule of thumb, the higher an athlete’s body weight, the more susceptible to fatigue. This is especially true in basketball, where athletes have more mass than most other sports. Whenever a player touches the ground while running on the pitch, landing from a jump, or falling through contact, they will experience higher ground reaction forces than other athletes. This is because gravity has a greater influence on them because of their mass.
A well-developed aerobic system will help minimize the fatigue caused by a heavier body and allow muscles to conserve and recycle energy. So how do we assess and improve these athletes’ aerobic systems so that they can take advantage of these benefits and achieve long-term success in their sport? We’re using the old school beep test in a “new school” way.
Why use the beep test?
Performing the beep test is the best way to improve the fitness of basketball players for the following reasons:
- In contrast to bicycle ergometry, the beep test requires the athlete to support their body weight. This helps monitor trends in aerobic fitness as an athlete’s weight fluctuates over the course of their career.
- In contrast to ergometer tests, which are carried out on a treadmill, the beep test subjects the athletes to forces that change direction, which increase in frequency and intensity as the athlete begins to tire and simulates the last half of a game situation.
- In adults, if performed correctly, the test has an accuracy of 92% of an ergonomic VO2 Max test¹
- Beep test results can be correlated directly with the VO2 max values, depending on the athlete. It therefore takes into account the individual differences and enables more effective comparisons between athletes.
- The reason for the test stop can reveal the need for specific programming interventions. For example, an athlete might stop because their calves give way during the test. This allows you to identify and strengthen weaker muscle groups.
- The test can be performed on the same surface that the athlete is playing on. This is important because different surfaces stress our muscles in different ways.
- The test is time efficient, accurate, free, non-invasive, and athletes can be tested in groups.
Performing the beep test earlier in the off-season can provide the clues necessary to develop an effective, personalized program to help athletes achieve their fitness goals. A metronome is set to perform the beep test (also called Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test). The athlete runs from one line to the other with a beep. The two lines are either twenty or fifteen meters apart. The test starts at 8.5 km / h (level 1) and increases every minute up to 18 km / h (level 20). The longer it lasts, the more difficult the test becomes.
The test ends when an athlete either stops or fails to reach the line two times in a row before the beep. Each beep test level correlates with a certain fitness level, measured in “VO2 Max”, which means “voluntary maximum oxygen uptake”. In other words, it’s a measure of how much oxygen muscle cells can use up at any given time.
Measurement of the beep test
Here is a table for basketball players to use to determine the optimal values for the beep test based on age, gender, and position:
Guards should be at the top of a certain range, followed by forwards and centers.
The numbers used in this table are taken from the Leger Bouche Shuttle Run and the work of Yves Nadeau. Nadeau was the former Short Track Coach in Canada and has had a very successful career. He attributes much of his success to this system for developing the aerobic system.²
But it’s not just about avoiding fatigue from a single game. Fatigue also accumulates over the course of the competition year. We think that the aerobic system provides most of our energy. At the same time, at rest, the more developed it is, the better the recovery during rest periods (days off and light exercises).
After the beep test
Heart rate recovery (HRR) refers to the time it takes for your heart rate to return to a resting level after a high-intensity exercise. From his experience, Nadeau found that elite heart rate recovery is between 40 and 50 beats per minute. After experimenting, an HRR of 40 beats in sixty seconds seems like a challenging but practical goal. Record your heart rate when the test is finished, then again 60 seconds after the test, and then again 120 seconds after the test. Let the athlete run around during this time. Please do not assume that an athlete who does poorly on the test will also do poorly on the HRR. This is not always the case!
Make sure to write down the reason the athlete stopped the test as it can be a helpful guide to improving their fitness. This is one of the reasons the Beep Test is so good at pinpointing individual issues that are affecting fitness.
Basketball is a sport with relatively short rest times compared to working hours. It can take several minutes or more before the game is interrupted. Even then, the breaks are short. There is not much time left to lower your heart rate. The better an athlete can capitalize on these short breaks, the more he delays fatigue. The next part discusses programming strategies for those who do poorly on the beep test and heart rate recovery.
Happy workout.
References:
1. Mayorga-Vega, Daniel; et al. Criterion-Based Validity of the 20-M Shuttle Run Test for Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2015
2. Nadeau, Yves. Delay in the fatigue threshold. 2019 (presentation)
3. Marinković, Dragan. Pavlović, Slobodan. THE DIFFERENCES IN THE AEROBIC CAPACITY OF BASKETBALL PLAYERS IN DIFFERENT PLAYING POSITIONS. Physical Education and Sport vol. 11th 2013
4. Crisp, Alex Harley; et al. Time to exhaustion at VO2Max Velocity for basketball and soccer athletes. Journal of Exercise Physiology. 2013
5. Sallet, P., D. Perrier, JM Ferret, V. Vitelli and
G. Baverel. Physiological differences in professional basketball players depending on the playing position and level of play. J. Sportmed. Phys. Fit. 2005
