- Starting back training after your end of season break
can be tough and a little bit demoralizing,
but on the plus side you will see significant improvements
happen pretty quickly, while being able to measure those
and check for any imbalances is important.
So today we're going to be covering five different
fitness and conditioning tests that you can do now
at the start of your preseason and then repeat again
in a couple of months' time to see how you're progressing.
(intense, mechanical music)
We're going to be covering the three
commonly used fitness tests for the swim, bike, and run,
then some basic body measurements,
which you can perform yourself,
and finish it up with a selection
of body conditioning tests.
Now I have to put it out there,
the fitness tests are tough.
They're designed to get the best out of you
to give a true representation of where exactly you are
with your fitness right now at this point in the season.
So you'll need to spread those out
and come feeling fresh and in the right mindset.
(upbeat music)
First up, the swim, and we're gonna
do the critical speed test, or CSS,
which will give you your predicted pace
you should be able to hold for 1500 meters right now.
Now for this you need a standard size swimming pool,
hopefully with enough space
so you're not gonna get interrupted and a stopwatch.
And before you start you need to do a thorough warmup,
making sure you include some pace efforts
so you're ready to go.
And then it's gonna be a 400 meters all-out best effort
with a complete recovery afterwards.
So making sure your include a little bit of swimming
to loosen off before repeating it over a 200 meters all-out.
And then you're gonna take those times
and input them into an online CSS calculator,
which will give you your
predicted 1500 meter threshold pace, so to speak.
It'll basically tell you the pace that you should
be able to hold per 100 meters if you were to swim a 1500.
And this is then also really useful
not only as a fitness marker right now,
but you can use it in your training
as you start your preseason.
(upbeat music)
This is the one you're probably most familiar with.
It is the dreaded FTP test,
or the functional threshold power test,
and it's quite similar to the swim.
If you are a glutton for punishment, though,
you could do a full one hour all out as a sustained effort.
But the slightly more pleasant option is the 20-minute test.
Now for this you're going to need a walk bike
or your bike on a turbo trainer.
And you need to be able to measure your heart rate
and your average power.
Again, this is going to require a thorough warmup
and plenty of motivation because it is 20 minutes all out
but at a sustained effort level.
So you need to make sure you can maintain
pretty average watts throughout.
And then you're gonna take that average power
and either submit it into an online calculator
or simple times it by 0.95 to give you
your functional threshold power,
which is basically, in theory,
what you could hold if you rode all out for an hour.
And this is really useful as a benchmark
for your fitness now that you can easily test again
in a couple of months' time.
But it's also a great way to actually
set your training plans right now.
You're probably getting used to the theme by now.
Yes, this is another sustained effort that is going to hurt.
You've got a couple of options, though.
So there's the 5K run whether you've got a local 5K park run
that's fairly flat or a 5K loop
that you know that you can repeat time and time again.
Or the other option is the 30-minute test.
Whichever one you choose
you're still gonna need a thorough warmup
and be able to run hard from the very start.
If you're going for the 5K option you obviously need
to record your time and ideally your heart rate as well.
If, however, you're doing the 30-minute test
then you'll need to record the distance.
So for that you're gonna need a GPS watch
or run it on a track so you know
exactly how far you've gone.
And then from that you can actually
work out your running speed at lactate threshold.
So you'll need to divide the distance in meters
that you've run by the time you've been running for.
So that would be 1800 seconds
and that can give you your RSLT.
But you don't need to worry about that calculation,
simply having the distance that you've run
and your heart rate gives you a markup
that you can compare to later down in the season.
(upbeat music)
You'll be pleased to hear that these don't involve any pain
or even any physical exertion.
It is as it sounds on the tin,
some simply measurements that'll give you
a baseline marker now that you can compare
back to later on in the season.
And a great one to get started with,
the obvious one, is your weight.
So pull out the scales, stand on them,
and record your weight.
But don't get bogged down by that number
because we all know that muscle does weigh more than fat
and during your off season you might well
have lost a little bit of muscle and put on some fat.
And you could end up even weighing the same.
So now is a great time, if you do have the opportunity,
to get hold of some skin fold calipers
and get someone to measure your actual body fat percentage
for a more accurate measurement.
A couple of other options, grab a tape measure
and take the circumference of your waist,
your hips, and your thighs.
Just make sure you always measure in the widest part
so you can replicate it later on in the season.
And it isn't scientific,
but I can normally tell whether I put on weight or not
by how tight my jeans are, although obviously
they can stretch as the season goes on as well,
so don't necessarily rely on that one.
And then finally, if you are feeling really brave
you could maybe just get a photo of yourself
in your sports kit or in your underwear
and then you can see how your physique has changed.
There are so many other tests and measurements
that you can do to give you an idea
of where your body is at various points in the season.
For these I've picked out some more simple
and objective tests that will give you
a guideline for your core strength,
where your flexibility is,
and also flag up any potential muscle imbalances.
This first one does involve some effort, I afraid.
It is the dreaded plank.
It is pretty simple and straightforward.
You need to get into the plank position,
on your elbows, with a straight line going from your heels
through your hips to your shoulders.
And if you do have a friend or you've got a mirror nearby
you can use that to check that you've got good form.
And then you need to hold that for as long as you can.
So time it and as soon as your form stops to drop
that's when the clock needs to end.
Then you need to repeat this on either side.
So get into your side plank position
with one elbow down, one foot on top of the other
or one in front of the other.
Just make sure you repeat the exact same position
on the other side, time them both, and then compare.
Sticking with strength but now looking
more specifically at power, it's the standing jump.
Again, you're gonna need to make sure
you're thoroughly warmed up for this one.
You need a tape measure laid out along the ground,
and you're gonna start at zero
and you're gonna jump with both feet together,
landing with both feet together as far as you can.
Make sure you repeat it three times
and you're gonna take your best score from this.
Might be useful to have someone to help mark out
and note exactly where you do land.
And now a progression from this, or a variation as well,
a great way to see if you've got any imbalances here
is the single leg, or otherwise known as the hop.
So you're gonna repeat the same,
first on one leg for three hops,
then onto the other leg for three hops.
Now it's not unusual to have a discrepancy,
partly because you're probably find it easier
and more comfortable taking off
and landing on one foot than the other.
But when you come back to measure it later on
in the season you've got a good benchmark.
And as long as you're not having any niggles
or any injuries, there's nothing to worry about.
The final couple of tests involve less effort,
you'll be pleased to hear.
It's time to look at your flexibility.
But before we go any further it's worth pointing out
that it is hard to measure accurately,
partly because you can compensate and cheat slightly.
So just make sure that you do a stretch
that you can replicate exactly when you do it again
to measure back and always make sure
you're thoroughly warmed up before testing your flexibility.
The hamstring stretch is a common one.
You can do this either sitting or standing.
You should feel the stretch
down the back of your hamstrings.
Now to measure this you just wanna see
how close your hands or fingertips can get
to your heels or down your shins,
or in some cases how far past,
but just make sure you don't bounce on this exercise please.
And remember that it isn't purely gonna be your hamstrings
because your lower back and your hips
will be involved in this test as well.
But if you want a really accurate measure
of how tight your hamstrings on purely on their own
then see if you can get a physiotherapist to measure it
in a passive movement and give you a number that way.
The knee-to-wall test is a great way
to measure the flexibility or tightness of your ankles,
and more specifically it's actually measuring the length
of your soleus muscle at the back of your lower calf.
So you need to stand facing the wall
with your toes just away from it,
and then bend your knee until it touches the wall.
Move your foot back until your knee's
only just touching the wall or just able to,
and then measure that distance from the tips of your toe
to the wall and then repeat that
on the other side and compare.
And if you do want to make this even more specific
you can actually test the big toe flexor
by putting a little wedge under your big toe
and then repeating the test
and make sure you measure on the left and on the right.
If you do have the opportunity to go
and see a physiotherapist at the beginning of the season,
it's a great idea to get an overall body MOT.
So you've to baseline marker that if you do get niggles
later on in the season you know what's normal
and where it was tight anyway.
And if you don't have a physiotherapist to hand,
even a personal trainer can help you
get these more accurate measurements
so you've got something to compare to as you go on.
All of us are different so these these tests
aren't so you can compare yourself to your friends,
but more importantly so you've got a good starting point
that you can refer back to and you know what is your normal.
It also helps flag up any weaknesses are imbalances
that you can address now early on in the season
before they end up materializing as injuries later on.
And doing these tests regularly will just give you
a good idea of how you're progressing throughout the season.
Well, hit the thumb up button if you'd liked this video.
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And if you are wanting to know a little bit more about CSS,
or critical swim speed, Mark's actually made a video
in triathlon training explained going into detail on this,
and you can find that just here.
And if you want to know how to activate those glutes
early on in the season I made a video on that just here.