[Closed] Beep Tests

It is normally the level...

You can find bleep tests to download if they need to practice.

That's Level 8, Shuttle 6 (there are 10 shuttles in that level before it jumps up in speed to Level 9).

who is that for police/fire?

Thanks @lewisdeacon that makes sense.

@bruneep yes, potentially

@wombat

https://www.joiningthepolice.co.uk/how-to-apply/whats-involved-in-the-medical-and-fitness-tests/preparing-for-the-fitness-test

practice practice practice, make sure he knows that he can't turn up and wing it. practice the turns silly as it sounds but that's where most injuries happen

@bruneep Thanks for that, really useful 🙂

🎶Doo boo doop, start of level three...🎶

Aaagghhhh I hated the beep test. Back in the olden days during my military years it was being trialled. Our normal fitness test was 2km in 8 minutes, that was relatively easy, the beep test was just ridiculously hard.
I would smash all of the fitness tests but the beep test just got to me, no idea why. Minimum standard for the Beep test was also 11.06 I think.

8.6 is way higher than the police test, 5.4 is the requirement, it's a steady trot tbh, you would have to be pretty unfit not to pass.

Unless you have to wear a stab vest, heavy boots, cuffs and a truncheon.

I used to hate the beep test. The turning is knee murder.

I used to hate the beep test. The turning is knee murder.

Very much this^

We used to do assessments in stn gym for years, then they knocked it down. When the fitness bods came on stn to do beep test in yard there was loose gravel everywhere we refused as there was no RA for it . Just asking for an injury to happen

Do the police do the beep test in boots and a stab vest?
Army didn’t wear boots, we wore our nice whiter than white starched t shirts, plimsoles which would blind you and shorts with a pressed crease up both legs (a very good look!). The people in the police video are in trainers and joggers. I know it’s rude to say it, but those two don’t look like they are capable at sprinting between the beeps.
I imagine the police overall training is very hard, with fitness being a smaller factor.
8 seems to be the minimum standard for military trades. From memory the RAF was 8.06.
(I’m not comparing the two by the way, I’d never pass the intelligence needed for Police training so I’d never compare the two)

@ TheDTs, No they don't wear that for a bleep test, just saying it's a fairly easy level to get to. Might ramp up further into training, maybe to level 5.4 with all the equipment perhaps?

National Police fitness test is level 5.4.

Firearms is high level 8 or low level 9.

This is all in PT kit

My Wife used to be in the Police.
When joining she was worried about the fitness aspect so we got hold of the bleep test and did it a few times at our gym in one of the rooms they used for classes.

Without wanting to sound like a smug ****, the Police level was very easy for anyone with a modicum of fitness.
There was no requirement to do it in boots, vest, belt, radio etc.

Did the FB tests in my 20s, wasn’t mega fit (hadn’t discovered cycling yet and definitely fitter now in my 40s!) although did play badminton regularly so maybe used to the quick turns!! Was a piece of piss tbh. Level 8.8 I think it was, less than 9 mins of running. If he exercises regularly I wouldn’t overthink it!

Police one was 8 when I joined - TJF!

(Plus some push ups and pull ups and a bizarre agility course - not the one where an Alsatian dog rides a motorbike through a hoop of fire, but a running around one to see if you could catch someone who couldn’t make his mind up which way to go).

We had to do this on tennis courts at school. Psycho PE teacher.

When i was playing a reasonable level of football as a centre midfielder our coach would sometimes torture us with it. I reckon i could get to about 11 from memory. My centre midfield partner was a practicing Muslim and could get to 14 - my god he used to carry me!!! I always thought it was because he didn't touch alcohol.

In the 90s i remember being told that Neil Back once played a full 80 minutes of Rugby then reached 14. Insane.

It always hurt my ankles the most.

There's a list of 'unverified' records here:
https://www.topendsports.com/testing/records/shuttle-run.htm

I seem to remember, vaguely, from my RAF days that the young lads had to reach about level 11 and being a little older I had to make somewhere in level 9 (I managed 12.3 and nearly puked). It was always a max effort test and I remember one lad made 13.9. This was all on my year long trade training course where we were doing loads of circuit training, running and 5-a-side, so I guess we were well trained for the nature of the test.
If the beep test he has to do is the same as the ones I did in the Airforce then 8.6 should be easy for anyone who has done any training.

Training (or lack thereof) might be an issue if the test was this week but realistically it wouldn't be until late this year.

I'm putting together a training plan with her over the weekend.

I recon we've got 6 months to get from very slightly built 5'8 and little exercise to passing an 8.6 and being able to press 35kg (it's for the fire service, hence the 35kg press).

Hated it. Could pass the Army PFA with a 9 minute-ish run, but the bleep test was a struggle and used to play havoc with my knees and hip. Hateful thing, devised by bastards.

I know it’s rude to say it, but those two don’t look like they are capable at sprinting between the beeps.

I did think that, but I guess that's the whole point - make it look achievable with a Dad bod....

Re the knee thing, I had my beep test style corrected by a PT once, I used to maintain my stride and just stop / pivot on one foot (which is really bad). You're supposed to decrese stride length as you approach the turn, decelerating using more steps than usual - which decreases the force through the joints.

I think I’m in a unique group, did a beep test and failed 🙂
Going for a pre-rural surveillance course, fitness assessment, been told it was a mile and a half run but got there and was confronted by a beep test, I was also out of the gym on a call when they explained what was required so I just stopped when I thought I had passed the required standard. They did invite me back for a re-test but I wasn’t that bothered about lying in a ditch and crapping into plastic bags for days in the first place so declined the offer. Never been near a beep since then thank god.

There’s no sprinting involved in a bleep test. By the time you actually fail it feels like it but it’s really not. It is all about the turn and holding back at the start. I used to do a sideways cross step to turn. 15:8 back in my late 20s reckon it would have been better in my early 40s when I was training even more. It’s also about how much you are willing to hurt yourself that’s what made it such a scary thing to do before you started. Teaching PE (mainly Science) the number of kids who just give up as soon as they start breathing slightly more heavily makes you think they’d never broken sweat! Used to do the kids over 12 or 15 metres

FFS 11+ should be the minimum standard for any service.it is not fitness but desire up to that point.

Used to do it in school, there was a fitness test to make the rugby team - can't remember the level though, I want to say 9 but don't actually know for sure.

You need to practise, once you're used to how the beeps speed up you just need to get in a rhythm. That was over 20 years ago though

FFS 11+ should be the minimum standard for any service.it is not fitness but desire up to that point.

No it shouldn't. Absolutely not required. Even the Army has moved away and does a more relevant fitness test these days.

No it shouldn’t. Absolutely not required. Even the Army has moved away and does a more [s]relevant[/s] easier fitness test these days.

Corrected that for you 😉 . Real shame that the 1.5 mile run got dropped from the assessment weekend. I was fresh off a 2h35m marathon when I did mine and did it in 8m30s or so.

Later on in basic we had to do a mile on an athletics track- I rolled in in about 5m20s, having lapped the entire field of about 30 people except 2. I was bent over double gasping for breath, but feeling very pleased with myself until the drill sergeant screamed "STOP YOUR F****G HISTRIONICS AND STAND UP STRAIGHT SOLDIER" at me 😀 .

Only ever got up to 13.1 in the bleep test though, bit fast-twitchy for me.

I got to L13 I think it was when I did one back in about 2010, but I was pretty fit back then, or thought I was! 10 years later at a nip over 50yrs old I can just about manage a 6:30min mile, only one though.

I remember doing the firefighter one quite a few years back. It was embarrassingly low, certainly not 8.6.

What was more interesting was that when they said you "could" stop if you wanted, about two thirds did. Muppets. Only one in fifty got in back then so that was not the attitude. They stopped you at about 10 something which was the "real" test.

Just download one of the millions of bleep test apps out there. Do a max test to work out where you are. Then, as training, do the test but leave a level in the locker. Rest for 3 mins and repeat.

Or, play lots of invasion sports/do some sprints.

Yeah just download a bleep test app from the AppStore. Just need a tape measure and something at each end to make the turn point.

I’ve done them on dry grass most of the time but a few on tarmac. If the grass is fairly flat I find it easier on the joints.

Level 8 is pretty easy - I think when I was playing hockey (not at a high level) I got to 12 or 13 after pre-season training. I’m getting fitter again bike wise on a turbo now - not run since a calf injury at the start of Jan but I reckon I’d still scrape myself to level 10 at the moment with no specific training.

Just to say it’s also easier to get to a higher level if you’ve got someone to compete against (for me anyway) - the last two seasons I did bleep tests on I ‘won’ as I don’t like to be beaten at that sort of thing!

Finbar, as an instructor in a training camp I’d have absolutely ripped you a new one. Get back out there and support your fellow soldiers....
I reckon you might have your 8:30 mixed up, your marathon time is 30 minutes faster than mine but my 1.5 miles was under 8. I was an 800 / 1500 metre club runner, I suppose that helped me with the shorter distance.
I used to love the fitness tests. We used to make the trainees do one most Fridays to determine if they were allowed home that weekend (of course they were always allowed home but it gave them an added push).

Finbar, as an instructor in a training camp I’d have absolutely ripped you a new one. Get back out there and support your fellow soldiers….

Sorry SIR 😉 !

My 1.5 mile time at the assessment centre was slow b/c some sadistic instructor had us up at 4:30am and we'd spent the morning hefting weighted sacks around. Under 8 is definitely going some though, what was your 800m time?

As others have said, 8.6 shouldn't be difficult if he has a reasonable level of fitness and the will to do it. To achieve that level don't worry too much about fitness. Spend the time practicing the test. Get them used to the way the levels change, how to pace the running and timing the turns. Make sure you measure out the distance as accurately as possible. It will look a bit odd to when practicing it in the park but it will be worth it.

It's years since I last did one but I remember it getting quite competitive when I was doing A-Level PE. At the time I was cycling everywhere and playing hockey almost every day so I was fit. Other members of my class had similar levels of fitness. We did the test a few times, each time a couple of PE teachers would take part and would try to show us kids how strong and fit they were. We beat them every time leaving them looking broken. Their lessons following the beep test must have been funny.

ITs been a while since I did one )so honestly dont remember my score) but those that did better than expected (including me, based on their other sporting exploits) managed to power walk, then do a nice relaxed bouncy jog, when others were already running.
A sideways shuffle for the turns was also efficient at lower speeds.

Just to repeat most of the above, when I joined the Fire Service we did the bleep test and the level required was not especially difficult to someone with average fitness. When we did it at school we were still running backwards and doing forward rolls up to around level 7!

If you can get her up to running 5k regularly sub 30 mins I can't imagine she'll have a problem but as others have said, you know the target so practise, reach the level then go further.

In North Yorks we don't do the bleep test anymore, we use the Chester Step Test. Would prefer the bleep tbh as it's easier to assess where you are yourself. Chester depends on V02 Max and can be affected by plenty of factors on any given day. There's talk of going back to running.