A New Squash Specific Incremental Field Test

The purpose of this study was to develop a practical and reliable squash specific incremental test for estimating maximal oxygen uptake (V̇O <inf>2max</inf>). V̇O<inf>2max</inf> was measured using breath-by-breath online gas analysis among 11 male and 10 female squash players during a maximal incremental running treadmill protocol. All subjects performed a specially designed maximal squash specific incremental test (SSIT) until fatigue on two separate occasions. There were positive intraclass correlations for the two SSIT trials for time to fatigue (r = 0.998, p < 0.001) but the second trial was shorter (t = 2.7, p < 0.05) due to less stable scores among female players. A positive correlation was found between SSIT performance and V̇O <inf>2max</inf> (r = 0.924, p < 0.001). SSIT time to fatigue and V̇O <inf>2max</inf> regression equations were used to produce a table to predict V̇O<inf>2max</inf> from SSIT performance. SSIT was found to be a reliable and valid method of estimating V̇O<inf>2max</inf> among squash players. A balance between usability and squash specificity was achieved in the design of the SSIT without jeopardising its purpose of estimating V̇O<inf>2max</inf>. SSIT is inexpensive, quick to set up and simple to administer compared to other squash specific tests and can be used with novice through to elite players. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart.