AIR-BT, a new badminton-specific incremental easy-to-use test

BACKGROUND: Badminton is a highly demanding sport characterized by intermittent efforts with energy being provided by both the aerobic and anaerobic systems. To date, no incremental badminton field test has been developed that can be easily used by badminton coaches that requires accessible material for anyone. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop a practical and reliable easy-to use intermittent endurance badminton test for estimating maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2max)). METHODS: Thirty six Spanish badminton players (age: 24.1±10.3 years) performed, on different days of the same week, four incremental protocols to exhaustion in randomized order: a treadmill incremental test, a Yo-Yo intermittent recovery level 1 test (Yo-Yo IR1) and twice the Abian intermittent recovery badminton test (AIR-BT). Oxygen uptake was determined with a breath-by-breath gas analyzer during the incremental treadmill test, and performance in the Yo-yo IR1 and AIR-BT was recorded. RESULTS: Significant correlations (p<0.001) for Pearson’s product moment coefficient were found between the performance in the AIR-BT and the two non-specific incremental tests (VO(2max) in the Treadmill Test: r = 0.87, distance in the Yo-Yo IR1: r = 0.86). The regression equation to calculate the VO(2max) from the AIR-BT time [VO(2max) = 0.023*(AIR-BT time in seconds)+31.334] showed an adjusted R(2) of 0.76 and a SEE of 3.34 ml·kg(-1)·min(-1). There was no significant difference between VO(2max) obtained by the incremental treadmill test and VO(2max) calculated using the regression equation (p = 0.644). A paired t-test reported no significant differences between day 1 and day 2 in the AIR-BT time (p = 0.753), the Pearson correlation coefficient between both days was: r = 0.88 (p<0.001) and the intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.875. CONCLUSIONS: The AIR-BT is a valid and reliable on-court test for assessing VO(2max) in badminton players and may be utilized by coaches and physical trainers for cross-sectional comparison of players and for evaluation of longitudinal changes.