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What the BEEP!


Finally, the offseason is over and FC Cincinnati has begun its second season as a club! No longer are we just looking at replays of games, browsing news outlets for player signings, or wondering what MLS city will receive the golden ticket.  FC Cincinnati now has players in town and the team is already having meetings, dinners and player physicals.  Then Wednesday came and one of the first physical activities the players had to do was take the dreaded BEEP test.

What is the BEEP test?  I have been an athlete for most of my life and have been through a number of tests, yet I have never heard of this until FC Cincinnati.  I was guessing BEEP was an acronym but I was wrong.  The BEEP test is actually a shuttle run that test the athlete’s VO2 Max limit (amount of oxygen that an individual can utilize during extreme exercise output).  The test allows the team to see a players current cardiovascular condition.

The process is simple, the players will jog/run 20 meters while receiving audio input telling them what level they have reached.  To reach the next level the player must make it to the other side of the run before the BEEP sound is played on the audio.  As the players advance through the BEEP levels, the time they get to make it across the 20 meters decreases turning the jog into a run and then into sprints. The players get no rest between these intervals, as soon as the beep sounds indicating they succeeded or failed, they must turn around and run back across the 20 meters again for the next level. In the end the BEEP wins. There are variations in the test so not all BEEP test are equal but they all are based off the same premise.

I watched an interview with Sporting KC about the BEEP test from a few years ago and the coaching staff said that the players hate it and act like they don’t want to do it.  However, the coaches also indicated, they are athletes and competitors.  In the end the BEEP test turns into a competition and the players will compete to win it.

This year FC Cincinnati winner of the BEEP test and a free order at Skyline on me, is no other than newcomer Aaron Walker! FCC’s try-out signee from Iceland made it to level 22-6 which equates to under 3.89 per segment!  Congrats again Aaron from the CST team and way to get things started with the club.

Let us know how far you think you could make it in the BEEP test. Here is more info on the BEEP Test protocol.

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