How do you perform the Intermittent Recovery Test? Our advice is to start with the level 1 (IR1) test and that’s what’s covered in everything below. The Level 2 test requires a high contribution from the anaerobic system so is a different measure of fitness. The Level 1 test determines an individual’s ability to recover from repeated exercise while testing your aerobic system to the max. They both progress upwards in speed as the test progresses. They’re set up the same, other than level 2 starts at a speed of 13km/h whereas level 1 starts at 10km/h. Just to confuse matters a little more there are two grades of Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test: Level 1 (“IR1”) and Level 2 (“IR2”).
The one you want to be doing to test your fitness for 5-a-side is the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test as it better mirrors the way that you get short breaks followed by runs at higher intensity. The former of these two has a 10 second break after each 2 x 20m sprint, and the latter only gives you 5 seconds making it a bit closer to the classic beep test. You might hear about two types of test: the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test and the Yo-Yo Intermittent Endurance test.
Other than being the item from which it gets its name, the Yo-Yo fitness test has nothing to do with one of these – instead, it’s about doing shuttle runs until you want to cry! Two Types of Yo-Yo Test?
