Discover how to do the Course Navette Test to measure your resistance

To have knowledge of our current physical state in various qualities or tests, we must have tools whose objective is to measure these patterns with validity and reliability. The Course Navette test is a tool that is used today to measure the global resistance of a subject, both in cardiorespiratory patterns -VO2 maximum, and muscular -Mechanical stress-. Well, once we have reached the physical limit in which we are forced to stop the activity, we have data for a later improvement after a training period.

What is the origin of the Course Navette Test?

Also known as the Léger Test or the Pi Test, this test was created by Dr. Luc Legal of the University of Montreal more than 30 years ago. It”s funny how good ”praxis” endures over the years. At present, this test continues to be used in sports, although of course other tests and physical tests have been created later (and will continue to be created). However, in the school environment, it is a great base due to its ease of implementation with respect to infrastructure and the lack of need for sports equipment. It is also common to see it in the physical tests of certain oppositions, such as those that give access to the Army.

It is a maximum and progressive test. This test measures the maximum aerobic power and indirectly the maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 Max). Maximum oxygen consumption is the maximum amount of oxygen that cells can absorb. It is expressed in liters per minute (l / m) or in milliliters per kilogram per minute (ml. /kg. / Min.).

What is the Course Navette test?

In this test, the subject moves from one rectilinear point to another with a distance of 20 meters between them. A progression is carried out by logical activation, from walking to running to finish with sprints. The moments in which this space is to be crossed are marked by an acoustic signal, which, as we advance in time, proceeds to be received in increasingly shorter periods, leading the subject to increase their running speed and, therefore, your oxygen consumption to get to the outward or return line on time.

Once the subject is not able to carry out the proposed section, the test ends and the accumulated lines are measured and through established graphs, their overall cardiorespiratory status is measured. In this way, the maximum speed at which it has managed to travel before stopping is taken and this value is entered in a formula that calculates VO2 Max.

The higher this value, the greater the capacity that organism will have to produce energy through aerobic metabolism, the less need to resort to anaerobic lactic metabolism, and the greater the ability to eliminate lactic acid if it has been produced.

Materials needed in the Course Navette test

1. An open space where a space of maximum 20 meters is delimited.
2. A meter or rope to verify the measurements of the circuit.
3. A suitable audio equipment so that the acoustic signal is perceived clearly.
4. An audio track with the correct musical times from the authentic test.
5. A stopwatch to check the times it takes to go through these lines.

What does current science say about this test?

For many coaches, this may be an outdated test. But for many others, it is a great way to indirectly measure the aspects already explained in the article. Performing this test it from time to time will help you not only to improve your physical condition at the respiratory level, but also to have control over it. That is, if we do not have data on the loads we apply to the body in our workouts, how do we know if we are improving physically or not? They say that classics never die, here is an example of it, it works, it is valid, it measures what it should measure and it is used in many fields of sports and health.