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The '''multi-stage fitness test''', also known as the '''pacer test''' or the '''beep test''', is a series of stages that have different tasks sometimes used by sports and [[coach (sport)|coaches]] and trainers to estimate an [[sportsperson|athlete]]'s [[VO2 max|VO<sub>2</sub> max]] (maximum oxygen uptake). The most common variation of the multi-stage fitness test is the [[Kenneth H. Cooper|FitnessGram/Cooper]] PACER test, a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wood|first1=Robert|title=Beep Test Variations|url=http://www.topendsports.com/testing/beep-variations.htm|website=Topend Sports Network|publisher=Topend Sports Network|accessdate=15 April 2016}}</ref> The test is especially useful for players of sports such as [[rugby football|rugby]], [[Football (soccer)|association football]], [[Australian Football League|Australian rules football]], [[Gaelic football]], [[hurling]], [[hockey]], [[netball]], [[team handball|handball]], [[tennis]], [[Squash (sport)|squash]], and fitness testing in schools and colleges plus many other sports; employed by many international sporting teams as an accurate test of cardiovascular fitness, one of the more important components of [[physical fitness]]. The test was created in 1982 by Luc Léger, University of Montreal<ref>TESTING PHYSICAL FITNESS, EUROFIT Experimental Battery PROVISIONAL HANDBOOK, STRASBOURG 1983 http://www.bitworks-engineering.co.uk/linked/eurofit%20provisional%20handbook%20leger%20beep%20test%201983.pdf</ref> and published in 1983 with a starting speed of 8 km/h and stages of 2 min duration. The test was re-published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology in 1988 in its present form with a starting speed of 8.5 km/h and 1 min stages under the name "The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness".<ref name="MSFT_1988">{{cite journal |last1=Léger |first1=L.A. |last2=Mercier |first2=D. | last3=Gadoury | first3=C. | last4=Lambert | first4=J. |year= 1988 |title=The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness |journal=J Sports Sci |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=93–101 |publisher= |doi= 10.1080/02640418808729800|pmid=3184250 |accessdate= }}</ref> Result equivalences between slightly modified versions are well explained by Tomkinson et al. in 2003.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 12688827 | volume=33 | issue=4 | title=Secular trends in the performance of children and adolescents (1980-2000): an analysis of 55 studies of the 20m shuttle run test in 11 countries. | year=2003 | journal=Sports Med | pages=285–300 | doi=10.2165/00007256-200333040-00003}}</ref> |
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The '''multi-stage fitness test is absolutely useless''', also known as the '''pacer test''' or the '''beep test''', is a series of stages that have different tasks sometimes used by sports and [[coach (sport)|coaches]] and trainers to estimate an [[sportsperson|athlete]]'s [[VO2 max|VO<sub>2</sub> max]] (maximum oxygen uptake). The most common variation of the multi-stage fitness test is the [[Kenneth H. Cooper|FitnessGram/Cooper]] PACER test, a multistage aerobic capacity test that progressively gets more difficult as it continues.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wood|first1=Robert|title=Beep Test Variations|url=http://www.topendsports.com/testing/beep-variations.htm|website=Topend Sports Network|publisher=Topend Sports Network|accessdate=15 April 2016}}</ref> The test is especially useful for players of sports such as [[rugby football|rugby]], [[Football (soccer)|association football]], [[Australian Football League|Australian rules football]], [[Gaelic football]], [[hurling]], [[hockey]], [[netball]], [[team handball|handball]], [[tennis]], [[Squash (sport)|squash]], and fitness testing in schools and colleges plus many other sports; employed by many international sporting teams as an accurate test of cardiovascular fitness, one of the more important components of [[physical fitness]]. The test was created in 1982 by Luc Léger, University of Montreal<ref>TESTING PHYSICAL FITNESS, EUROFIT Experimental Battery PROVISIONAL HANDBOOK, STRASBOURG 1983 http://www.bitworks-engineering.co.uk/linked/eurofit%20provisional%20handbook%20leger%20beep%20test%201983.pdf</ref> and published in 1983 with a starting speed of 8 km/h and stages of 2 min duration. The test was re-published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology in 1988 in its present form with a starting speed of 8.5 km/h and 1 min stages under the name "The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness".<ref name="MSFT_1988">{{cite journal |last1=Léger |first1=L.A. |last2=Mercier |first2=D. | last3=Gadoury | first3=C. | last4=Lambert | first4=J. |year= 1988 |title=The multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness |journal=J Sports Sci |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=93–101 |publisher= |doi= 10.1080/02640418808729800|pmid=3184250 |accessdate= }}</ref> Result equivalences between slightly modified versions are well explained by Tomkinson et al. in 2003.<ref>{{cite journal | pmid = 12688827 | volume=33 | issue=4 | title=Secular trends in the performance of children and adolescents (1980-2000): an analysis of 55 studies of the 20m shuttle run test in 11 countries. | year=2003 | journal=Sports Med | pages=285–300 | doi=10.2165/00007256-200333040-00003}}</ref> |