Tail Shushan - Sub-Maximal Testing - What is left to Understand?
Jan 20, 2025Episode 171: In this episode of the Sports Science Insights Podcast, Steve Barrett sits down with Dr. Tzlil Shushan — a postdoctoral research fellow in Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Wollongong. Tzlil brings a wealth of experience as a sport scientist and strength & conditioning coach, having worked with elite team-sport organizations and published extensively in the field. Specializing in monitoring, programming, and evaluating performance strategies, Tzlil combines cutting-edge research with practical expertise to consult and mentor athletes and organizations worldwide.
✏️ Topics Discussed:
▪️ Cultures of Sport Science in Different Countries
▪️ Studying a PhD in Australia
▪️ Diving into Sub-Max Fitness Testing
▪️ Internal Responses to Sub-Max Testing
▪️ External Responses to Sub-Max Testing
▪️ Challenging Technologies for Measuring the Session
Key-Points
- Submaximal fitness tests involve selecting a protocol that applies a stimulus to athletes, typically a running protocol in team sports, without pushing them to their maximum effort. These tests are designed to be integrated into the training environment, allowing for more frequent assessments without disrupting the regular training schedule. The stimulus is carefully calibrated to elicit meaningful physiological responses while remaining below the athlete's maximal capacity, ensuring that the test can be repeated regularly without causing undue fatigue or interfering with other training objectives.
- These tests monitor various outcome measures that serve as proxies for different physiological systems, including cardiovascular, physiological, mechanical, and subjective responses. By analyzing these measures, sports scientists can infer the athlete's physiological state and gain insights into training effects. For example, heart rate responses, blood lactate levels, running mechanics, and perceived exertion ratings can all provide valuable information about an athlete's fitness and adaptation to training stimuli.
- Submaximal fitness tests offer a more pragmatic approach compared to maximal testing, enabling more frequent assessments throughout the season, potentially on a weekly or even more regular basis. This increased frequency allows for closer monitoring of athletes' fitness fluctuations and responses to training loads, providing coaches and sports scientists with more timely and actionable data to inform training decisions and performance optimization strategies.
- The primary advantage of submaximal testing over maximal testing is the ability to conduct serial or repeated measurements, creating more data points per individual to understand overall trends. This longitudinal approach allows for better tracking of individual athletes' progress over time, identification of subtle changes in fitness levels, and more informed decision-making regarding training adjustments and performance expectations.
- Heart rate-derived indices, such as exercise heart rate during activity or heart rate recovery following activity, are considered reliable measures for assessing aerobic fitness in submaximal tests. These measures provide valuable insights into cardiovascular efficiency and adaptations to training. The relationship between heart rate and exercise intensity offers a non-invasive and easily measurable indicator of an athlete's aerobic capacity and fitness level.
- There is a theoretical assumption that if an individual consistently shows a lower heart rate in relation to the same external stimulus over time, it may indicate an improvement in aerobic fitness. This principle is based on the understanding that as cardiovascular efficiency improves, the heart can pump more blood with each beat, resulting in a lower heart rate for a given workload. This concept forms the basis for using submaximal heart rate responses as a proxy for aerobic fitness improvements.
- A meta-analysis of exercise heart rate during submaximal fitness tests revealed that athletes with lower heart rates in relation to their maximum heart rate typically exhibit better maximum performance when subjected to maximal tests. This finding supports the validity of submaximal testing as a predictor of overall aerobic fitness and performance capacity. It suggests that submaximal heart rate responses can provide meaningful insights into an athlete's potential maximal performance without the need for exhaustive testing protocols.
- The relationship between submaximal heart rate and maximal performance provides a good ranking approach for athletes but may not give a full understanding of individual adaptations. While this relationship allows for effective comparison between athletes, it's important to consider individual variability and other factors that may influence heart rate responses. Sports scientists must interpret these results in conjunction with other performance indicators and contextual information to gain a comprehensive understanding of each athlete's fitness status.
- Submaximal fitness tests aim to provide insights about decision-making regarding athlete progress using pragmatic, non-invasive approaches within the training environment. By integrating these tests into regular training sessions, sports scientists can gather valuable data without disrupting the training schedule or placing additional stress on athletes. This approach allows for more frequent monitoring and enables timely adjustments to training programs based on observed trends in submaximal test responses
Where you can find Tzlil:
• University of Wollongong
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