Aerobic Fitness Norms
Assessing Children's Aerobic Fitness by using sports software with international norms
At Chelsea Gymnastics Academy, we take a holistic approach to developing young athletes. While strength, flexibility, and coordination are crucial for gymnastics, a strong foundation in aerobic fitness is equally important. This is where the Beep test (also known as the Bleep test, 20m Shuttle Run Test, or Multistage Fitness Test) comes in.
The Importance of the Beep Test:
- Measures Aerobic Fitness: The Beep test assesses how efficiently your child's body uses oxygen during exercise. This is directly linked to their overall endurance, stamina, and recovery time, impacting both gymnastics performance and daily activities.
- Tracks Progress: By conducting the test regularly, you can monitor your child's progress and tailor training plans accordingly.
- Motivates Improvement: Seeing their results can act as a motivator for children to push themselves and reach their fitness goals.
Chelsea Gymnastics Academy's Advantage:
- Reference Norms for the Beep Test: We provide age-specific reference norms for the 20m Shuttle Run Test, enabling parents, teachers, and coaches to easily compare their child's results and gain valuable insights.
- Specialised Beep Test Software: We use sophisticated software developed by Coach Stefan himself during his PhD project on young gymnasts' health-related physical fitness. This ensures accurate data collection and analysis, providing a deeper understanding of your child's capabilities.
What are normative reference values?
These values are numbers from 1 to 100, grouped in different tables, for each gender and age, and they help us to evaluate the level of physical fitness of each child regardless of gender- and age-specific differences.
How to interpret the reference values?
Using normative reference values provides a valid and reliabe way to assess the fitness of an individual because they take into account the growth and development of your children, as well as the gender differences in certain components of physical fitness. The scores are very easy to use and understand. For instanse, if a child has a percentile score of 80 for a particular test, that means that this child has higher level of physical fitness than 80% of children at the same age and gender. For evaluation of the results, schools and sport clubs can apply the following scale:
< 10th percentile |
Poor |
10th - 24th percentile |
Medium |
25th - 74th percentile |
Good |
75th - 89th percentile |
Very Good |
90th - 100th percentile |
Excellent |
Now it is time to discover where your child stands and unlock a world of possibilities for their growth and development.
GIRLS
Normative Reference Values for VO2max from the Beep Test (ml/kg/min)
Percentiles |
|||||||||||||||
Age |
1 |
3 |
10 |
20 |
25 |
30 |
40 |
50 |
60 |
70 |
75 |
80 |
90 |
97 |
99 |
5.0 |
44.5 |
45.1 |
46.3 |
46.8 |
47.0 |
47.2 |
47.7 |
48.2 |
48.6 |
48.9 |
49.1 |
49.5 |
50.2 |
51.3 |
52.1 |
6.0 |
42.9 |
43.7 |
44.9 |
45.6 |
46.0 |
46.3 |
46.8 |
47.4 |
47.9 |
48.4 |
48.7 |
49.1 |
50.0 |
51.3 |
52.3 |
6.5 |
42.1 |
43.0 |
44.2 |
45.1 |
45.5 |
45.8 |
46.4 |
47.0 |
47.6 |
48.2 |
48.5 |
49.0 |
49.9 |
51.3 |
52.4 |
7.0 |
41.2 |
42.2 |
43.5 |
44.5 |
45.0 |
45.3 |
46.0 |
46.6 |
47.3 |
48.0 |
48.3 |
48.8 |
49.8 |
51.4 |
52.7 |
7.5 |
40.3 |
41.4 |
42.8 |
43.9 |
44.4 |
44.8 |
45.5 |
46.2 |
47.0 |
47.7 |
48.1 |
48.7 |
49.8 |
51.6 |
53.0 |
8.0 |
39.3 |
40.5 |
42.1 |
43.2 |
43.8 |
44.2 |
45.0 |
45.8 |
46.6 |
47.5 |
47.9 |
48.5 |
49.8 |
51.8 |
53.4 |
8.5 |
38.6 |
39.6 |
41.3 |
42.6 |
43.2 |
43.6 |
44.5 |
45.4 |
46.3 |
47.2 |
47.7 |
48.4 |
49.9 |
52.1 |
53.5 |
9.0 |
38.4 |
39.2 |
41.0 |
42.4 |
43.0 |
43.5 |
44.4 |
45.3 |
46.2 |
47.2 |
47.7 |
48.4 |
49.9 |
51.9 |
53.0 |
10.0 |
37.9 |
38.4 |
40.4 |
42.0 |
42.6 |
43.2 |
44.2 |
45.1 |
46.0 |
47.0 |
47.6 |
48.2 |
49.8 |
51.6 |
52.1 |
11.0 |
35.6 |
36.2 |
38.3 |
40.1 |
40.8 |
41.4 |
42.5 |
43.5 |
44.5 |
45.7 |
46.4 |
47.0 |
48.7 |
50.8 |
51.4 |
12.0 |
33.3 |
34.0 |
36.2 |
38.2 |
38.9 |
39.6 |
40.8 |
42.0 |
43.1 |
44.3 |
45.0 |
45.7 |
47.7 |
49.9 |
50.6 |
13.0 |
31.2 |
31.9 |
34.3 |
36.4 |
37.2 |
37.9 |
39.2 |
40.4 |
41.6 |
42.9 |
43.7 |
44.4 |
46.5 |
48.9 |
49.6 |
14.0 |
29.2 |
29.9 |
32.4 |
34.6 |
35.4 |
36.2 |
37.6 |
38.8 |
40.1 |
41.4 |
42.2 |
43.0 |
45.2 |
47.7 |
48.4 |
15.0 |
27.3 |
28.0 |
30.5 |
32.8 |
33.7 |
34.5 |
35.9 |
37.2 |
38.5 |
39.9 |
40.8 |
41.6 |
43.9 |
46.4 |
47.1 |
16.0 |
25.1 |
25.9 |
28.7 |
31.1 |
32.0 |
32.8 |
34.2 |
35.6 |
37.0 |
38.4 |
39.3 |
40.2 |
42.5 |
45.3 |
46.1 |
17.0 |
23.0 |
23.9 |
26.8 |
29.3 |
30.2 |
31.1 |
32.6 |
34.1 |
35.5 |
37.0 |
37.9 |
38.8 |
41.3 |
44.1 |
44.9 |
18.0 |
20.9 |
21.8 |
24.9 |
27.5 |
28.5 |
29.4 |
31.0 |
32.6 |
34.0 |
35.6 |
36.5 |
37.4 |
40.1 |
42.9 |
43.7 |
BOYS
Normative Reference Values for VO2max from the Beep Test (ml/kg/min)
Percentiles |
|||||||||||||||
Age |
1 |
3 |
10 |
20 |
25 |
30 |
40 |
50 |
60 |
70 |
75 |
80 |
90 |
97 |
99 |
5.0 |
44.2 |
45.2 |
46.1 |
46.9 |
47.3 |
47.6 |
48.1 |
48.7 |
49.5 |
50.2 |
50.6 |
50.7 |
51.0 |
52.1 |
53.1 |
6.0 |
42.8 |
43.8 |
45.1 |
46.0 |
46.5 |
46.8 |
47.5 |
48.1 |
49.1 |
50.1 |
50.6 |
50.8 |
51.2 |
52.7 |
53.9 |
6.5 |
42.1 |
43.1 |
44.6 |
45.6 |
46.1 |
46.4 |
47.1 |
47.8 |
48.9 |
50.0 |
50.6 |
50.8 |
51.3 |
53.0 |
54.3 |
7.0 |
41.3 |
42.4 |
44.0 |
45.1 |
45.6 |
46.0 |
46.7 |
47.5 |
48.7 |
50.0 |
50.6 |
50.9 |
51.4 |
53.3 |
54.7 |
7.5 |
40.4 |
41.7 |
43.4 |
44.6 |
45.2 |
45.6 |
46.5 |
47.3 |
48.7 |
50.0 |
50.7 |
51.0 |
51.5 |
53.6 |
55.2 |
8.0 |
39.5 |
40.9 |
42.7 |
44.0 |
44.7 |
45.2 |
46.1 |
47.0 |
48.5 |
50.0 |
50.8 |
51.1 |
51.7 |
54.0 |
55.6 |
8.5 |
39.1 |
40.0 |
42.0 |
43.5 |
44.2 |
44.7 |
45.7 |
46.7 |
48.4 |
50.1 |
50.9 |
51.2 |
51.9 |
54.5 |
55.5 |
9.0 |
38.9 |
39.7 |
41.8 |
43.4 |
44.1 |
44.7 |
45.7 |
46.8 |
48.3 |
49.8 |
50.6 |
51.0 |
52.1 |
54.6 |
55.5 |
10.0 |
38.4 |
39.1 |
41.3 |
43.2 |
43.9 |
44.6 |
45.8 |
46.9 |
48.0 |
49.2 |
49.9 |
50.6 |
52.5 |
54.7 |
55.4 |
11.0 |
36.3 |
37.0 |
39.5 |
41.7 |
42.5 |
43.2 |
44.6 |
45.8 |
47.0 |
48.4 |
49.2 |
49.9 |
52.1 |
54.6 |
55.3 |
12.0 |
34.4 |
35.2 |
38.0 |
40.5 |
41.4 |
42.3 |
43.8 |
45.2 |
46.7 |
48.2 |
49.1 |
50.0 |
52.4 |
55.3 |
56.2 |
13.0 |
32.8 |
33.7 |
36.9 |
39.7 |
40.7 |
41.7 |
43.4 |
45.0 |
46.6 |
48.3 |
49.3 |
50.3 |
53.1 |
56.3 |
57.2 |
14.0 |
31.3 |
32.3 |
35.8 |
38.8 |
39.9 |
41.0 |
42.9 |
44.6 |
46.4 |
48.3 |
49.4 |
50.5 |
53.5 |
57.0 |
58.0 |
15.0 |
29.6 |
30.7 |
34.5 |
37.8 |
39.0 |
40.1 |
42.1 |
44.0 |
45.9 |
47.9 |
49.1 |
50.2 |
53.4 |
57.2 |
58.3 |
16.0 |
28.2 |
29.3 |
33.2 |
36.6 |
37.9 |
39.1 |
41.3 |
43.2 |
45.2 |
47.3 |
48.6 |
49.8 |
53.3 |
57.2 |
58.3 |
17.0 |
26.4 |
27.7 |
32.0 |
35.6 |
36.9 |
38.2 |
40.5 |
42.6 |
44.7 |
46.9 |
48.2 |
49.5 |
53.2 |
57.4 |
58.6 |
18.0 |
24.7 |
26.0 |
30.8 |
34.6 |
36.0 |
37.3 |
39.7 |
42.0 |
44.2 |
46.5 |
47.9 |
49.2 |
53.1 |
57.6 |
58.9 |
If you need help with the calculation of those percentile scores, you can simply use software, such as the BeepShuttle, which administers the Beep test, calculates the shuttles, stages, distance, in addition to the maximum oxygen uptake and its percentile scores in accordance with international age- and gender-specific norms. You can also use our professional services. For more info, please write to: dr.stefan.kolimechkov@gmail.com
Learn more
Coach Stefan presented this sports software at the 12th FIEP European Congress in Luxembourg, and one year later he presented the normative reference values at the 13th FIEP European Congress in Istanbul, and then together with his colleagues, they published them in the European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science in 2019.
Reference
Kolimechkov, S., Petrov, L., & Alexandrova, A. (2019). Alpha-fit test battery norms for children and adolescents from 5 to 18 years of age obtained by a linear interpolation of existing European physical fitness references. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science, 5(4), 1-14.
Kolimechkov, S., Petrov, L., Alexandrova, A., & Cholakov, K. (2018). BeepShuttle Junior: Software for the Administration of the 20m Shuttle Run Test in Children and Adolescents. Journal of Advanced Sport Technology, 1(3), 35-40.
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