Difference in estimated VO_2max between the 30-15 intermittent fitness-test and 20-meter shuttle test in amateur floorball-players.

Abstract:

Background: Floorball is a sport where not a lot of research have been done, it is a young sport and up until now it has only been played in Europe. The sport is in present days growing rapidly in popularity and is expanding worldwide. Because of the lack of research coaches have little knowledge regarding VO_2max testing within the sport. Aim: The aim of the study was to compare results of both a 30-15 intermittent fitness test (IFT) and a 20-meter shuttle test (beep test) and see if there is a difference between estimated VO_2max for athletes playing floorball. The hypothesis was that because the 30-15IFT mimics the movement pattern of floorball more than the beep test does, athletes playing this sports should score a higher result in the 30-15IFT. Methods: The study was done on fifteen sub-elite floorball players (8 male and 7 female) aged 20.6 years ± SD 3.5. The test persons performed two aerobic fitness tests, Beep test and 30-15IFT. The beep test consists of a number of 20 meter shuttle runs with increased speeds every minute and the 30-15IFT consists of 30 seconds of running followed by 15 seconds of rest with increased running speed every 45 seconds. A paired sample t-test was used to compare the estimated VO_2max results of both tests. Results: Results show that 66% test persons scored a higher result in the 30-15IFT compared to the beep test. However, there was no statistical difference between the two tests.  The players scored a mean value of 48.3 ml/kg/min ± 3.8 during the 30-15IFT and 45.4 ml/kg/min during the beep test ± 5.9, p=0.06 Conclusion: The 30-15IFT is equally as good as the beep test at estimating VO_2max in floorball players. A factor that might have affected the results was that the formula for calculating VO_2max in the beep test does not take age and weight into consideration while the formula for the 30-15IFT does. In the future, work should be done at “constructing” a new formula for the beep test.