Tips and Tricks for the Bleep Test

I'm often approached by people wanting to improve their Bleep Test times; usually for the fitness tests to joint the Police or Military or to progress their Military careers. I'm always delighted to help and, with 6 weeks or longer, I can create a bespoke training plan specifically designed for that individual to improve the aspects of their running and cardiovascular fitness that the Bleep Test is looking to test.

The Bleep Test is a series of shuttle runs over a 20 meter distance; where you need to get to the end of the distance before the "bleep" and the time bleeps gradually gets shorter! It's a test designed to get a gauge of your cardiovascular performance, your maximum oxygen uptake, better know as your VO2 Max.

Some of the people who contact me about improving their Bleep Test times are doing so only 2-3 weeks before the test date. This isn't really enough time to improve your fitness, so I've put together this blog post to talk through a few other ways you can improve your time for an upcoming test.

Practice and Pacing

Practing the Bleep Test so you are familiar with how it works can really help improve your performance on the day. Measure out an accurate 20 meter length, mark with something brightly coloured, download a free Bleep test timer app and away you go!

It's important to practice how to pace it too; many people start out fast, getting to the end with time to spare, but this is boosting up your heart rate early on, effectively making it an interval session. A better way to pace so you can keep going further into the test and get a better score is to start gently, getting to the end of each 20 meter just before the beep so the pace ramps up gradually. A brisk walk can often be fast enough for the first 1-2 sections. This helps you maintain your effort further into the test.

Warming Up

A warm up, if possible, before the test will really help performance. You don't want to go too crazy with drills or strides, more aiming to warm the muscles through with a few minutes of brisk walking or very gentle running so the legs are nicely warmer through and able to perform at their best for the test.

Fuelling and Hydration

Think about the test like you would any running event and properly fuel and hydrate for it;

• Stay well hydrated the day before and the day of the test

• Take on a little electrolyte before hand if it's a warm day

• Eat something fairly sunstabtial around 2 hours before the test. Make it mostly carbohydrate, with some slower release carbs. Not too much fibre, protein or fat

• Eat something sweet and sugary around 30 minutes before the test; this can be sweets or an energy gel

All this will make sure that your body has everything it needs to perform well in the test.

If you need help training for a bleep test just get in touch!