Firstbeat Launches SMFT Live View, Enabling Real-Time Fitness Testing with Automated Results

Firstbeat Sports has recently enhanced its Sub-Maximal Fitness Testing Feature (SMFT)  with the addition of its new Live View, enabling coaches and performance staff to monitor athlete responses in real time during the test.

This latest feature enhancement highlights how Firstbeat has transformed submaximal fitness testing, making it more efficient and easier to implement than ever before.

The SMFT feature eliminates the need for manual data processing, allowing practitioners to move from testing to actionable insight without delay.

Fitness testing easily becomes part of a strength and conditioning coach’s weekly workflow, taking just a few minutes to complete from starting the test to seeing the results.

The Firstbeat SMFT feature enables practitioners to:

• Monitor heart rate as a percentage of HRmax in real time during testing
• Automatically calculate key metrics, including Heart Rate Recovery
• Access a complete test report shortly after completion
• Eliminate manual work and reporting

This streamlined workflow allows teams to integrate fitness testing more consistently into their weekly routines and respond quickly to changes in athlete condition.

How Top Teams Use Firstbeat’s SMFT Feature

Performance staff working in elite environments have already highlighted the benefits of the enhanced feature.

Tom Joel from Leicester City FC emphasized the improvements in workflow efficiency:

“Since the introduction of Firstbeat’s fitness testing tool within the system, the process and the time it takes from completing a test to gaining feedback has significantly improved and enhanced our workflow.

We’re now able to gain quick and effective insight into whether a player’s internal response to a sub-maximal fitness test is within their normal range, whether it is significantly improved or significantly worsened compared to previous tests without leaving the Firstbeat system, which has been a real game-changer.

The introduction of the live feature speeds things up even more.”

In a recent Firstbeat webinar, San Diego Wave FC’s Georgia Brown highlighted how their team has implemented sub-maximal testing into their weekly coaching work with the support of the Firstbeat feature:

“We run a 4-minute submaximal test on the second day of training, because we’re always at our home field. In the preseason so far, we have seen an improvement in the heart rate response, and I’m interested to see how we go throughout the season.

From a practical perspective, using Firstbeat, they have an automatic calculation in there where they take the highest 30 seconds of the heart rate response. They’ve now just developed a live view for it as well, which is really cool.”

Designed for In-Season Monitoring

Submaximal fitness testing is widely used across team sports as a reliable method for tracking cardiovascular fitness without the demands of maximal testing. With the development of the SMFT feature, Firstbeat aims to further support coaches and sports scientists in applying this approach more effectively in real-world environments.

See How the New Live View Works

Join our free live session on May 5th, 2026, where Firstbeat’s Joel Wenning will be joined by Philipp Lussi from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to demonstrate how coaches can now measure SMFT automatically and see players’ responses in real-time on the pitch. You’ll learn directly from one of Germany’s top soccer teams how fitness testing has never been so easy!

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