Leger Test (20 m Shuttle Run)

Leger Test: what is it?

Luc Leger, a Canadian physiologist, published the 20 m shuttle protocol as a way to test the aerobic fitness of a whole class or squad at once, indoors, with nothing but a tape measure, two lines and an audio track. That is why it spread through schools, team sports and armed forces worldwide. Because the pace is dictated by the beeps, the test removes the pacing skill that a self-paced test like the Cooper test rewards - the athlete simply keeps up or does not.

The protocol

Mark two lines exactly 20 m apart. Athletes start behind one line and run to the other, arriving before the beep sounds, then turn and run back. The starting speed is 8.5 km/h, and speed increases by 0.5 km/h at each stage, with each stage lasting one minute. The audio track handles the timing.

The athlete must have at least one foot on or over the line when the beep sounds. The standard stopping rule is that the test ends when the athlete fails to reach the line in time on two consecutive occasions, or voluntarily stops. The score is the last stage and shuttle completed, for example "stage 9, shuttle 4".

• Non-slip indoor surface. A slippery gym floor turns the test into a turning-skill test.
• Standardise the audio track: several versions exist with slightly different starting speeds.
• Test in groups of a size you can actually watch, so line violations get called.
• Full warm-up first, and record the surface and footwear for the retest.

Turning the score into VO2max and MAS

The stage reached corresponds to a running speed, and that speed is the basis for both conversions. Leger published a regression for children and adolescents that uses the final speed and age: VO2max = 31.025 + (3.238 x V) - (3.248 x A) + (0.1536 x V x A), where V is the speed of the final completed stage in km/h and A is age in years. For adults, age is commonly held at 18 in this equation because the relationship flattens.

The other reading is more useful day to day: the speed of the final completed stage is a shuttle-specific maximal aerobic speed, which you can use directly to write interval paces. Bear in mind that decelerating and turning every 20 m costs energy that straight-line running does not, so a shuttle MAS reads lower than a track MAS on the same athlete. Never mix the two.

What the test rewards and what it punishes

The shuttle format rewards athletes who accelerate, decelerate and change direction efficiently, which is exactly why team-sport coaches like it: those qualities matter in the sport too. It punishes tall, heavy athletes and pure straight-line runners relative to what a track test would say about them.

It is also strongly affected by motivation and by the group. Athletes run further in a squad than alone, and further when someone is calling the stages out. Keep the social conditions constant across retests or the comparison is contaminated.

Using it in a coaching practice

For a coach with a small group, the beep test is the cheapest way to get an aerobic baseline on everyone in twenty minutes. Run it at the start of a block and again at the end, keeping the venue, surface, audio track and time of day fixed.

It is a maximal test, so screen first. For a deconditioned client, a submaximal alternative - a fixed-pace walk with heart rate recorded, or a talk-test assessment - tells you what you need without the risk of a maximal effort in someone who has no training base.