Firstbeat Sports Launches New Feature to Simplify Fitness Testing for Teams

Developed based on real-world feedback from elite coaches, the new tool automates athlete fitness monitoring without disrupting a team’s regular training schedule.

Firstbeat Sports has launched a powerful new Fitness Testing feature designed to make fitness testing for elite sports teams fast, reliable, and easy to implement throughout the season, with minimal disruption to regular training.

Submaximal fitness testing is a valuable way to track improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness without exhausting athletes. But a recent survey of Firstbeat Sports users revealed the major challenges coaches face with submaximal testing:

• 41% said tests are too time-consuming or laborious
• 27% cited concerns about the reliability and validity of data
• 27% said the result analysis process is too complex

“Fitness testing for large groups of athletes can be expensive and time-consuming, requiring clubs to arrange separate fitness testing days,” said Veli-Pekka Kurunmäki, Director, Professional Sports at Firstbeat. “Our goal was to simplify this process so teams can routinely monitor player fitness in-season without burning time or energy. This feature does exactly that.”

The new Firstbeat Fitness Testing feature is unique because it was built specifically for use in group training environments, making it ideally suited for elite and professional teams.

Coaches can now easily integrate fitness testing into warmups in a few minutes, reducing fatigue and maximizing available training time.

Snapshot of the fitness test report. The Athlete section provides a detailed look at the individual test results

Key features include:

• Automatic calculation of Heart Rate during Exercise (HRex) and Heart Rate Recovery (HRR)
• Automatic reporting, including an athlete’s current results and comparison with historical data
• HR chart visualizations at the individual athlete level
• Transparency of data quality ensures reliable results

“With the Fitness Testing feature, our aim has been to address core coaching problems and further bridge the gap between technology capabilities and practical coaching applications, said Ville Törmälä, Team Lead, Sports Software Development at Firstbeat Sports. “We hope this helps coaches translate data into improved performance outcomes.”

Why Submaximal Testing Matters

Scientific research has shown that improvements in submaximal fitness testing reflect improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness.

In multiple studies, improvements in submaximal heart rate responses correlate strongly with gains in VO₂ max, maximal aerobic speed, performance, and lactate threshold.

Submaximal tests can be repeated regularly without overexerting athletes – a critical consideration during congested seasons or return-to-play protocols.

With summer training camps fast approaching, now is the perfect time for coaches to begin benchmarking player fitness using this helpful new tool.

Book a meeting for live demo and pricing.

Learn more about the new fitness testing feature and why it was developed on our blog.

About Firstbeat Sports

Firstbeat Sports is the leading provider of physiological data for athlete performance management. Trusted by over 1,000 elite teams worldwide, Firstbeat turns complex physiological measurements into actionable insights on training load, recovery, and performance readiness.