Build up to the bleep test
Transcript
Build up to the bleep test with steady shuttles and clean turns. Here's how. Warm up first. You need four cones, a timer, and two lines twenty metres apart on flat, dry grass. Watch. Run steady shuttles between the lines. First, plant one foot on the line, turn, and push off. Don't turn short of the line. Then, keep the same pace every shuttle. Our target is three sets of two minutes, two minutes rest, once a week. Add a fourth set when three feel easy. Stop straight away if you feel dizzy or get chest pain. Then take the free test at footballreach.com.
What it trains
Training for the 20 m bleep test, not the test itself: steady 20 m shuttles in timed sets, so you practise the turn (plant, turn, push off) and an even pace before test day. There is no level to reach.
Set up
- Warm up first
- 4 cones, 2 lines
- A timer
- 20 m, tape-measured
How it works
- Warm up first, every time: the FIFA 11+ Kids warm-up if you are 7-13, FIFA 11+ from 14 (about 15-20 minutes), or your club warm-up.
- Tape-measure two lines 20 m apart on a flat, non-slip surface (grass, a 3G pitch, a track or a sports hall), never a road or pavement, with room to slow down past both lines. Put a cone at each end of each line.
- Set a timer for 2 minutes and run steady shuttles between the lines until it ends: plant one foot on the line, turn, and push off back the way you came.
- Rest for 2 minutes (walk or stand), then go again. Start with 3 sets and add a fourth when 3 feel easy. Once a week.
- This is practice, so do not record a level. On test day, do the real bleep test the same way on day 0 and day 90 (episode 15, Test yourself: the bleep test, shows how).
Coaching points
- Plant, turn, push off. Slow down over the last few steps, plant one foot on the line, turn, and push off back the way you came. Every shuttle is the full 20 m.
- Same pace every shuttle. Pick a pace you can hold for the whole 2 minutes and run every shuttle the same, not fast at the start and slow at the end.
Not this
Turning before your foot reaches the line. It cuts every shuttle short, and in the bleep test a shuttle that does not reach the line is a miss.
Dose
- 3 x 2 min, 2 min rest
- Build to 4 sets, weekly
Our target: 3 x 2-minute sets of steady 20 m shuttles, 2 minutes rest, building to 4 sets, once a week (our target, not from a study).
Harder / Easier
Harder
Pacing to the beep: run one of your sets to the standard UK bleep test audio from the start, arriving on each beep, not before, and stop when the 2 minutes are up. It is practice, not a test, so do not record a level.
Easier
Start with 2 sets, or 1-minute sets, at an easy jog, and walk through the turns until the plant feels clean (our suggestion).
Safety
- Warm up first. Use a flat, non-slip surface such as grass, a 3G pitch, a track or a sports hall, with room to slow down past both lines, never a road or pavement. Do not train while injured or in pain.
- If you get chest pain or feel faint or dizzy when you train, stop straight away (under 16: tell an adult) and get it checked the same day by your GP or NHS 111. Call 999 if someone collapses.
- Under 16: if your knees or heels hurt when you run or jump, stop and tell an adult. Knee and heel pain is common while you are growing, and a GP or physio can help. 16 and over: stop rather than train through pain.
- Under 16, keep it steady: it is practice before a bleep test, and your weekly conditioning stays the small-sided games (episode 12). From 16 it can be your weekly interval session.
Sources
- Football Reach - how the measured tests work (bleep test) (opens in a new tab)
- PubMed - Leger 1988, 20 m shuttle run (opens in a new tab)
- PubMed - Ramsbottom 1988, UK shuttle run (opens in a new tab)
- FIFA - injury prevention (FIFA 11+, ages 14+) (opens in a new tab)
- PubMed - Rossler 2018, FIFA 11+ Kids trial, ages 7-13 (opens in a new tab)
- The FA Boot Room - growth and the physical corner (opens in a new tab)
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