Sport-specific physical tests: complete guide to specific assessments

Not every sport demands the same things from the body, which is why a single generic test battery will never give you the full picture. A soccer player needs intermittent endurance and striking power; a cyclist needs peak power and threshold; a CrossFit athlete needs strength-endurance on recognized benchmarks; a tennis player needs sport-specific endurance with changes of direction.

In this guide we've gathered 19 tests organized by sport and physical quality, each with its protocol, common mistakes, and reference tables, so you can put together the assessment your athlete actually needs.

The 19 tests, organized by sport

Agility and changes of direction

Test	When to use it
Illinois Agility Test	To assess change-of-direction ability in field sports (soccer, basketball, handball) with a standardized circuit widely used in research
T-Test Agility Test	When you want something quicker to set up than the Illinois, with lateral and backward changes of direction
5-10-5 Pro Agility Shuttle	For sports involving quick starts and stops (American football, rugby, racket sports), very popular at scouting combines

Speed

Test	When to use it
30-Meter Sprint Test	To assess acceleration and maximum speed in sports with short sprints (soccer, athletics, team sports in general)
40-Yard Dash Test	The reference standard in sports of American origin (American football, scouting combines)

Running

Test	When to use it
Running Threshold Test (anaerobic threshold)	For runners who want to plan their training paces by intensity zones
Running Economy Test	For distance runners looking to optimize energy expenditure at a given pace
Timed 5K Test	As an accessible field test to estimate aerobic capacity without a lab
Running Cadence and Technique Test	To detect stride patterns that may be limiting performance or increasing injury risk

Soccer

Test	When to use it
Yo-Yo Test (soccer variants)	To measure soccer-specific intermittent endurance, the most widely used field test in this sport
Soccer-Specific Endurance Test (Bangsbo)	When you want a test that combines endurance with changes of direction, closer to the real demands of a match
FIFA 11+ Test	To detect risky movement patterns and guide injury-prevention work, especially in youth categories
Kicking Power Test (ball speed)	To quantify lower-body power applied to the kicking action

Endurance sports (general)

Test	When to use it
Repeated Sprint Ability Test (RSA)	For high-intensity intermittent sports where the key is repeating maximal efforts without too much performance drop-off

Tennis

Test	When to use it
Tennis-Specific Endurance Test (Hit & Turn)	To assess endurance with the changes of direction typical of tennis play, more specific than a continuous running test

Weightlifting / strength

Test	When to use it
Weightlifting Power Test (power clean test)	To measure lower-body power with an explosive strength movement, transferable to many sports

CrossFit

Test	When to use it
"Fran" as a CrossFit Test	To measure short-duration power-endurance under metabolic fatigue, one of the most widely used benchmarks
"Murph" as a CrossFit Test	To measure long-duration (30-60 min) strength-endurance, combining running and full-body work

Cycling

Test	When to use it
Peak Power Sprint Test (cycling)	To measure the ability to generate maximum instantaneous power, key for sprints and short climbs

How to choose the right test for your sport

You don't need to run all 19 tests with everyone. A few quick guidelines:

• Team sports with changes of direction (soccer, basketball, handball): start with an agility test (Illinois or T-test) + an intermittent endurance test (Yo-Yo or Bangsbo) + prevention (FIFA 11+ for soccer)
• Distance runners: the running threshold test is the foundation; add running economy and cadence/technique if you want to fine-tune further
• CrossFit athletes: use "Fran" for the short power-endurance component and "Murph" for the long strength-endurance component; you don't need to repeat both at the same frequency
• Cyclists: combine the threshold test (FTP) with the peak sprint power test to get the full profile (endurance + explosiveness)
• Racket sports (tennis, padel): the Hit & Turn test is the most specific; supplement with an agility test if you want to isolate the pure change-of-direction component
• Explosive strength sports (weightlifting, throwing, power sports): the power clean test is a good starting point, and can be combined with speed tests if the sport requires it

The key isn't accumulating tests, but choosing the ones that answer a specific question about your athlete: where is their current limit, and what do they need to improve to perform better in their sport?

From tests to training plan

Having 19 protocols doesn't help much if the results end up scattered across spreadsheets, phone notes, and different stopwatches. With Movalytics you can record any of these tests — with their specific units (time, speed, power, W/kg, distance) — for each athlete, and automatically see their progress over the season, comparing against previous sessions without having to dig through anything.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to run all these tests with every athlete? No. Choose the 2-4 most relevant tests for the sport and the goal of each athlete. A battery that's too long eats into training time and generates fatigue that can distort the results themselves. How often should I repeat these tests? It depends on the test and the training block, but as a general reference: every 6-12 weeks is reasonable for most field tests. The more demanding benchmarks (like "Murph") are done less often, 1-2 times a year. Do I need expensive equipment for these tests? Some do (power meter, speed radar), but most can be done with basic equipment: cones, a stopwatch, a tape measure, and in some cases an audio app. The biggest investment is the time it takes to properly standardize the protocol. How do I know if a result is "good" for my athlete? The reference tables for each test give you a general framework, but the most valuable data point is your athlete's own progression over time. An "average" result on a table can represent a huge improvement relative to their starting point. Can I mix tests from different blocks (for example, postural and sport-specific)? Yes, and it's actually recommended. An initial postural assessment (see the postural tests guide) helps you understand the athlete's structural starting point, and the sport-specific tests tell you how they're performing in the qualities their discipline demands.