What Does a Submaximal Fitness Test Tell You?
It measures two things: the player’s heart rate at the end of a short, fixed-pace run, as a percentage of HRmax, and how far it drops in the next 60 seconds. A change under 3 percentage points is noise; over 6 is a real change in fitness. Repeated every one to two weeks, the trend shows whether training is developing fitness.
Fitness Monitoring in Team Sports Has Never Been Easier
Stop processing test data manually. Monitor fitness in real time and access the results as soon as the test ends.
With Firstbeat, submaximal fitness testing easily becomes part of your weekly workflow, taking just a few minutes to complete from starting the test to seeing the results:
- Players put on the Firstbeat sensor
- Coach selects protocol and starts the test
- See the live heart rate as percentage of HRmax
- Test ends, Heart Rate Recovery is calculated
- Download the data right away from sensors
- Access the report in the Sports Cloud
See How Elite Teams Use Submaximal Testing in Practice
Watch our educational session featuring special guest Philipp Lussi from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and discover how one of Germany’s top soccer teams integrates submaximal fitness testing into weekly warm-ups, in-season monitoring, and return-to-play workflows.
See how regular testing helps the performance staff track player fitness consistently throughout the season, identify changes early, and support better day-to-day coaching decisions.
Watch the full session and Q&A: SMFT Made Simple – Live Insights with Philipp Lussi, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Who is Fitness Testing For?
Submaximal fitness testing is an essential tool for all strength and conditioning coaches working in team sports.
Whether you’re working in soccer, basketball, ice hockey, or other sports, and at any level from youth to elite, Firstbeat’s SMFT provides a simple, reliable way to monitor fitness throughout the season.
With SMFT Live View, those insights are now available instantly, so you can move from testing to action without delay.
Explore the Science Behind Submaximal Testing
In this two-part webinar series, renowned Sport Scientists Martin Buchheit, Tzlil Shushan, and Shaun McLaren presented their insights and findings on 20 years of research on HR responses to submaximal exercise as a measure of adaptation.
Full session and speaker notes: Monitoring Adaptations Using HR Responses to Submaximal Exercise.
Buchheit’s rule of thumb: a change under 3 % in exercise heart rate is noise, 3–6 % is worth watching, over 6 % is a real change.
Is Your Training Actually Developing Fitness?
By gaining regular objective insights into your athletes’ fitness, you are better equipped to make informed decisions around training and performance. This allows you to evaluate team composition, identify individuals requiring additional development, and establish baseline values to support return-to-play protocols following injury.
Read more about why you should implement fitness testing here.
Which Protocol Is Right for My Team?
Ready to get started with submaximal testing but not sure where to begin? Download our free one-page guide with protocol recommendations tailored to your sport.
Frequently Asked Questions about Submaximal Fitness Testing
How long does a submaximal fitness test take?
The run itself is 3–4 minutes at a fixed pace, inside the normal warm-up, plus the 60 seconds after it for heart rate recovery. With Firstbeat Sports the result is calculated automatically when the test ends, so there is nothing to process afterwards.
Which protocol should we use?
In professional men’s soccer the most common protocol is 4 minutes at 12 km/h; 3 minutes also works. Exercise heart rate should sit at 75–90 % of HRmax. On a basketball court the same test runs as 28 m shuttles at 8.5 seconds each — 21 shuttles for 3 minutes, 28 for 4. For ice hockey the principle transfers to any fixed off-ice workload, such as a bike at set watts. Whatever you choose, keep the speed and the protocol identical every time. Sport-specific protocols are in the guide above.
How often should we test?
Weekly in pre-season, when the training load is high and you want regular feedback. In-season at least every two weeks; ice hockey teams with three games a week often settle on every four to six weeks, as Finnish champions Tappara do. Always at the same point of the training week — in soccer MD-3, three days before the match — and after a light training day rather than a full rest day.
How big a change is a real change?
Exercise heart rate varies by about 1.6 percentage points of HRmax from test to test on its own. A change under 3 points is noise, 3–6 points is worth watching, and over 6 points is a real change in fitness. As a rule of thumb, 4–5 points corresponds to about 0.5 km/h of maximal aerobic speed.
Heart rate dropped after a hard week — are the players fitter or fatigued?
Usually neither yet. A short-term drop after a hard block is most often plasma volume expansion, not fatigue; heart rate falls from chronic fatigue only after weeks of exposure. Read the trend across several tests, and pair it with training load and recovery data. Note heat too: exercise heart rate rises about one percentage point for every 10 °C.
Can we use it in return to play?
Yes, and earlier than most staffs expect. Before the player is cleared to run, the same test can be done on a bike at fixed watts — for example on a Wattbike — which gives a reference point for the off-feet conditioning phase. Once the player is cleared to run at the test speed, switch to the running protocol. Test weekly during return to play and compare against the player’s own pre-injury baseline; the gap shows how much conditioning work remains. Keep the bike and running tests as two separate trends; a change of protocol resets the baseline.
Which sensor do we need?
Heart rate recovery is calculated from beat-to-beat (R–R) data, which the Firstbeat Sports Sensor records with a chest strap or vest. Optical wrist devices give heart rate level only, so heart rate recovery cannot be calculated from them.
