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The aims of this study were to explain how the Intermittent Endurance Running (INTER) test is executed, describe physiological responses during testing, and evaluate reliability and content validity in this new soccer specific test. The test consists of 20 m shuttle running, interspersed with straight sprints, agility sprints, walking and resting. Shuttle run speed is increased at each level until exhaustion. Thirteen male professional players participated in the present study. Exercise tolerance time, distance covered, mean blood lactate and mean heart rate were 25:51 ± 2:41 min, 2892 ± 324 m, 5.5 ± 1.2 mmol · L-1 and 161 ± 11 beats · min-1, respectively, during the INTER test. Sprint and agility performance decreased significantly at higher levels. Eight of the players performed a retest for reliability evaluations. Mean difference ± 95% limits of agreement, coefficient of variation (CV) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for exercise tolerance time between test and retest were -00:41 ± 02:25 min, 2.5% and 0.75, respectively. The CV for sprint and agility performance between test and retest was <1%. The INTER test mimics soccer games on distance/time ratio, frequency of sprints, heart rate and blood lactate values, and could be an alternative field test for evaluating essential physical performance aspects in soccer players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a meta-analysis of 109 reports of the performance of children and adolescents on the 20-m shuttle run test (20-mSRT). The studies were performed in 37 countries and included data on 418,026 children, tested between 1981 and 2003. Results were expressed as running speed (km · h-1) at the final completed stage of the 20-mSRT. Raw data were combined with pseudodata using Monte Carlo simulation. The 20-mSRT performances were expressed as z-scores relative to all children of the same age and sex from all countries. An overall “performance index” was derived for each country as the average of the age- and sex-specific z-scores for all children from that country. Factorial analysis of variance was used to compare scores among countries and regions, and between boys and girls of the same age. There was wide and significant (P < 0.0001) global variability in the performance of children. The best performing children were from the Northern European countries Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, and Finland (0.6 – 0.9 standard deviations above the global average). The worst performing children were from Singapore, Brazil, USA, Italy, Portugal, and Greece (0.4 – 0.9 standard deviations below the global average). There is evidence that performance was negatively related to being overweight, as well as to a country's average temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of subject drop-out on a multi-stage shuttle run test and a modified incremental shuttle run test in which speed was increased by 0.014 m.s-1 every 20-m shuttle to avoid the need for verbal speed cues. Analysis of the multi-stage shuttle run test with 208 elite female netball players and 381 elite male lacrosse players found that 13 (+/-3) players stopped after the first shuttle of each new level, in comparison with 5 (+/-2) players on any other shuttle. No obvious drop-out pattern was observed on the incremental shuttle run test with 273 male and 79 female undergraduate students. The mean difference between a test-retest condition (n= 20) for peak shuttle running speed (-0.03 +/- 0.01 m.s-1) and maximal heart rate (0.4 +/- 0.1 beats.min-1) on the incremental test showed no bias (P > 0.05). The 95% absolute confidence limits of agreement were 0.11 m.s-1 for peak shuttle running speed and +/-5 beats.min-1 for maximal heart rate. The relationship (n= 27) between peak shuttle running speed on the incremental shuttle run test (4.22 +/- 0.14 m.s-1) and VO2max (59.0 +/- 1.7 ml.kg-1.min-1) was r=0.91 (P< 0.01), with a standard error of prediction of 2.6 ml.kg-1.min-1. These results suggest verbal cues during the multi-stage shuttle run test may influence subject drop-out. The incremental shuttle run test shows no obvious drop-out patten and provides a valid estimate of VO2max. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]