It is the last week before a new training block. The squad has had an easy week. Today is test day. The coach writes each squat max on a sheet. Those numbers will set the loads for the next six weeks.
If the numbers are old, every load in the block is off. This is why testing has a place in the plan from day one.
Why Test
A training plan is a guess about how an athlete will respond. A test checks the guess.
Most strength work is set as a percentage of a maximum. Take an athlete whose squat max was 150 kilograms in August. By October it is 160. At 80 percent, the old number gives 120 kilograms. The new number gives 128. The athlete has been training 8 kilograms too light.
Bompa and Buzzichelli (2015) make the same point. They advise retesting the one-rep max (1RM) before each new macrocycle. A macrocycle is a long training block. Retesting means the new loads match the gains the athlete made in the last one.
Three Kinds of Test
Baseline. This is the first picture of the athlete, taken at the start of the year. The book suggests testing sport-specific strength. It also suggests testing strength balance around the joints that matter most for the sport. These are tested with lighter loads, in the range of three to eight reps at the heaviest weight possible.
Monitoring. This happens between tests. It is not a test of ability. It checks how training feels. One simple tool is session RPE. RPE stands for rating of perceived exertion. The athlete rates the session, and the rating is multiplied by the minutes (Impellizzeri et al., 2004). The result is one number per session that a coach can track over weeks.
Retest. This repeats the baseline tests at set points. It shows whether the plan is working.
When to Test
The book places tests at the end of the unloading microcycle. That is the lighter week at the end of a macrocycle. Fatigue is lowest then, so the result shows what the athlete can do, not how tired they are.
Testing too often adds little. The authors say a 1RM test every three or four weeks, at the end of a macrocycle, is usually enough.
Sport-specific power or conditioning tests can run alongside. They track how the athlete’s shape changes over the year.
Is 1RM Testing Safe?
Some coaches avoid it. They worry that lifting a maximum leads to injury.
The authors disagree. They write that it is not dangerous for trained athletes to lift a maximum once every three or four weeks. Most injuries, they say, happen in training and competition, not in testing. They also point out that athletes meet forces in sport much larger than in a test lift.
A test still needs a proper warm-up with a gradual build of weight. This is the authors’ view. A coach with young athletes, or athletes returning from injury, may choose a lighter test instead.
Keep the Test the Same
A test only helps if results can be compared. Use the same exercise, the same warm-up, and the same order each time. Test at the same time of day when possible.
A result is one day. Sleep, stress, and food all change it. If a number looks off, look at the week before it.
What the Evidence Covers
Most of this advice comes from one textbook. The book focuses on strength and mostly on individual sports. Direct research on testing schedules in team sports is thinner. Coaches in team sports will need to adapt these points to their own squad and calendar.
What to Do With the Result
A test changes the plan in a simple way. Set the next block’s loads from the new numbers. If an athlete did not improve, check the plan first. Look at volume, sleep, and missed sessions before assuming the athlete is the problem.
The practical step is to write test dates into the plan at the start. Place them at the end of unloading weeks. The weeks around them can then be planned with the test in mind.
References
Bompa TO, Buzzichelli CA. Periodization Training for Sports. 3rd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2015. ISBN: 978-1-4504-6943-2
Impellizzeri FM, Rampinini E, Coutts AJ, Sassi A, Marcora SM. Use of RPE-based training load in soccer. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004;36(6):1042-1047. DOI: 10.1249/01.mss.0000128199.23901.2f. PMID: 15179175
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