Fitness Assignment: Cardiovascular Endurance Testing
Cardiovascular fitness is defined as the ability of the Heart, Lungs and Blood vessels to supply oxygen to working muscles during physical activity for a prolonged period of time. Some activities which can be used in order to test Cardiovascular fitness are the bleep test and the 1. 5 mile run. For the bleep test candidates are required to run back and forth between two point which will be either 15 or 20 meters from each other. The candidate must be able to reach the point before (or at the same time) as a beep sounds. The test will become more difficult as it goes on as the time in between the beeps will decrease. The bleep test is used by several different Public services as an entry test, some of the services that use this test are: Police, Prison, Army, RAF and Marines.
The requirements for the Police are that candidates should be able to reach a minimum of level 5. 4 while running over 15m. The requirements for this test for the Prision service are the same as those for the Police, candidates should be able to reach a minimum of level 5. 4 while running over 15m. For the Army the minimum level that candidates are expected to reach is level 10. 2 for males and level 8. 1 for females. This services unlike the others previously listed requires candidates to run over 20m. the RAF is again run over 20m the same as in the Army, candidates are again expected to reach different levels depending on their gender, a minimum of 9. 10 for males and 7. 2 for females.
The Marines perform their bleep test over 20m, male candidates are required to meet a minimum of level 10. 5, however, as females are currently unable to apply for the Marines there’s no requirement for them. For the bleep test over 20m i was able to reach level 4. 1 meaning that if the test was done over 15m I may have been able to meet the requirements for both the Police and the Prison service, although I would have been unable to meet the requirements for the Army, RAF and the Marines. The bleep test is an effective test in that it is able to test a candidates Cardiovascular fitness, however, it isnt very good to test how well suited a candidates is to the Public services their applying to. This test could be improved by making the test more relevant, for example candidates applying to the Police could instead be asked to run an outside course (possibly one that looks like the streets) where they are required to catch a suspect within a certain period of time. For The 1. 5 mile run candidates in a group are required to run a course of 1. 5m within the shortest time possible.
For the Public services there may also be other parts to the 1. 5m run which you will be required to complete immediately after running it. Public services which use the 1. 5m run are: Army, RAF and Marines. For the Army the time that candidates are expected to complete the run in will depend on the position within the Army which they are applying to. The maximum time that candidates would ahve to run it is 14 minutes (unless you join as a junior meaning you would have 14 minutes 30 seconds) if they wanted to apply as combat service support. For the RAF candidates would be expected to be able to run 1. 5m on a treadmill within a maximum time of 12. 26 (ages 40 to 44) for males and 14. 48 (ages 40 to 44) for females. The time you would be expected to complete the run in would depend on your age and your gender. For the Marines candidates will need to complete the 1. 5m run on a treadmill with an incline of 2%, they will need to do this within a maximum time of 12 minutes 30 they will then be given a 1 minute rest before they will need to complete the run again, this time completing it within 10 minutes.
I was able to complete this test in 24. 04 meaning I wouldn’t meet the time from any of the services. I feel that the 1. 5m run is an effective test in that it is able to test a candidates Cardiovascular fitness and that it is a reasonably realistic representation of what may be expected of a candidate within the service they are joining. I feel the most realistic test is that used is the Army as the run is done outside which allows candidates to show how they would perform in a real life environment, the other test could also be altered in order to make them better reflect real life situations.
In order to improve the results candidates got for both of these tests they would need to improve my Cardiovascular endurance. Candidates could work on improving Cardiovascular fitness by more regular taking part in exercises such as running, swimming and cycling which would improve the bodies’ ability to efficiently supply oxygen to my muscles during exercise.
