ERFORMANCE
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SOCCER
CONDITIONING
A NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO IMPROVING SOCCER PLAYERS
www.performancecondition.com/soccer
30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test for Soccer:
A High-Intensity Interval, Individualized
Conditioning Plan Based on Test Results
Chris West, NSCAA Director of Conditioning Education, University of Connecticut Soccer Strength and Conditioning Coach
Chris West is currently Associate Head Coach for Strength and Conditioning at the University of Connecticut, working directly with men's basketball and men's and women's soccer.
Before working at UConn, he served as an athletic trainer at Saint Louis University and was later appointed Strength and Conditioning Coordinator. Coach West also served strength and conditioning and athletic
training internships with the Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Kings and a graduate assistantship with the
Seattle Seahawks.
Chris earned his bachelor's degree from California State University at Long Beach in physical education
and master’s degree in exercise and movement science from the University of Oregon. Coach West has held
certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association as Certified Strength and Conditioning
Specialist, the National Athletic Training Association as a Certified Athletic Trainer and the National Academy
of Sports Medicine as a Performance Enhancement Specialist.
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Chris West
he 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test was developed by Martin Bouche from France. I
consider this test very relevant to soccer because when we condition athletes, we
usually put standards on them. A classic example is the 300-yard shuttle with 25yard directional change and you must do it in 60 seconds. We would not put the
same athlete into the weight room, put 185 pounds on a bar and have them bench press this weight
10 times. We individualize the athlete’s resistance for the athlete in the weight room. We will
work on a certain percentage of what your maximum is to get stronger. It the same thing for
conditioning, but nobody treats it this way.
30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test
In Card 1 in 17-1 (Figure 1), the athlete sprints for ten seconds and rests for ten seconds.
It is done over a ten-yard course and for six minutes straight. The athlete then takes a six-minute
rest and repeats a second time. An athlete may test out at level 17, so this card is applicable to
him/her. In Card 18-1 (Figure 2), you can see everything is the same—they run for ten seconds,
rest for ten seconds over ten yards twice for six minutes on and six minutes rest. The difference is
that in level 17, the distance covered is 30 yards and level 18 covers 34 yards. Not only are there four
more yards, but there is also an additional change of direction. The athlete has a specific amount of work to do at each level with
the increased overload not coming within the same level. Rather, it advances to the next level.
Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Comparison
The coach’s next question is, “How is this different from the Yo-Yo IR Test?” You prescribe the workload based on the
workout cards with the 30-15. A level 17 athlete who tries to run at the speed of level 20 cannot keep up. If the athlete can run their
speed, so can everyone else. The Yo-Yo is a pure test; this is a conditioning prescription. The first number (17) is the level; the
second number (1, 2, 3) is the type of activity and that works a different aspect of conditioning and provides training progression.
Odd numbers are peripheral adaptation and even numbers are central adaptation.
The prescription approach is the training, the testing and assigning an individualized level is similar to the Yo-Yo test. The
length is 40 meters broken into two sections of 20 meters. You have three lines on a field. Start, go 20 meters, then another 20
meters. The athlete runs for 30 seconds, matching the beep just as in the Yo-Yo IRT. The difference is that there is a beep at the 20meter line, another at the next 20 meters then the athlete turns and comes back. The athlete runs for 30 seconds, a beep signals a 15second rest at the start line and then does it again with the beeps coming faster. A player will test at level 17 and train using that
specific card. The most difficult aspect of this program is the test itself.
Another approach that I used in our area is to give coaches Card 18 and have their athletes do it. It does not take long to
realize that one athlete should advance to Card 20-1 (Figure 3) and another to Card 17-1. It is a test by observation.
We start six weeks before pre-season with our players. We do the 30-15 test at the beginning and the end. On day one we
run 17-1, the next day it is 17-2 and the third day is 17-3. We do two high-intensity workouts per week. We have found that on the
whole, our team tests in three groups 17, 18 and 19 or 20. The beauty is that you can run each group level at the same time. The
only difference is that some go a little farther. O
Contact Chris at [email protected].
Net Link: For more articles on Chris's Moving Towards Grassroots conditioning: Introducing Three Simple Concepts click HERE
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3