Coaching & Mindset
How To Judge A Client Test, From Our Fitness Programming Specialist Course
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in Fitness Programming Specialist, the programme design course →
In short: FASTER's Fitness Programming Specialist course (Module 2, What Makes an Assessment Useful) teaches that repeatability and relevance are separate problems: a test can repeat beautifully and measure the wrong thing, or matter a lot and be too inconsistent to track. It gives five checks: specific to the task, valid, reliable, accurate and sensitive enough. Familiarisation is the one trainers skip most; netball players' times in a change-of-direction test kept improving until the second or third testing day. A number changing only means the client changed if the change is bigger than the test's normal variation.
How To Judge A Client Test
The short version
A trainer who tests a client wants one thing from the result: something to act on. Fitness Programming Specialist gives a simple way to get there. Repeatability and relevance are separate problems, and a test has to pass both before its number deserves trust. A test can repeat beautifully and still measure the wrong thing. It can also matter a great deal and swing about so much that nobody can tell whether the client changed or the test did.
Key Takeaways
- Both axes, or it is not an assessment: relevance to the client's outcome and repeatability.
- Five checks: specific to the task, valid, reliable, accurate, sensitive enough.
- A first test is also the client's first go, so familiarise them before you compare.
- A change only counts when it is bigger than the test's normal variation.
The five checks
The course lists them in the order a trainer can run them on any test.
- Specific to the task. Does the test represent something this client needs? If you compare against published norms, the comparison group has to look like your client. A bench-press norm from one population does not automatically tell you anything about another.
- Valid. Does it measure what you think it measures? A test can be consistent and still miss. The client's outcome decides whether the measurement is useful in your programme.
- Reliable. Can you get the same result when the client has not meaningfully changed? Control what you can: the environment, how prepared the client is, day and time, pre-test food and drink where relevant, motivation and instructions, familiarisation, and equipment and set-up.
- Accurate. Is the stopwatch, tape, load or app good enough for the decision? You are not running a university laboratory. The aim is to cut avoidable error and write the procedure down so you can repeat it.
- Sensitive enough. Can the test see the size of change you care about?
The step trainers skip
The course says familiarisation is the one trainers skip most, and it matters. When netball players repeated a change-of-direction sprint test, their times kept improving as they learned the test and only settled on the second or third testing day (Barber et al., 2016). Two familiarisation sessions were recommended for an isometric squat test (McGoldrick et al., 2023). If the first test is the client's first go, part of the improvement at the retest is the client learning the test.
When is a change real
A number changing does not automatically mean the client changed. The normal spread of one person's repeat results is called the typical error. The change you care about is often called the smallest worthwhile change. Put the two side by side and some popular tests fail: in professional Australian rules footballers the countermovement jump varied by 6.6% to 9.3% from test to test, more than the change the coaches wanted to detect, while a submaximal running test was more sensitive (Garrett et al., 2020). Those figures came from specific populations, so check the people in a study look like your client before you borrow them.
FASTER teaches this as a skill, not a lecture
This is Module 2 of a course built around the one thing that proves your product to a client: your programme design. It is visual, with figures you can study, and you can learn by reading, listening, writing answers or dictating them. Task 4 asks you to pick a test you already use, find its test-retest evidence and answer whether it can see the change you hope for.
Read the whole course on the Fitness Programming Specialist page. It sits alongside PT Manager, which opens when you sign up, with adding real clients unlocking once you pass a course.
FAQ
What makes a client fitness test useful? It has to be relevant to the client's outcome and repeatable enough that a change in the result means a change in the client.
Why do results improve on a retest when nothing has changed? Part of the gain can be the client learning the test, which is why familiarisation matters.
What is typical error? The spread of one person's results when they repeat a test and nothing has changed.
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Frequently asked
What makes a client fitness test useful?
It has to be relevant to the client's outcome and repeatable enough that a change in the result means a change in the client. Fitness Programming Specialist gives five checks: specific to the task, valid, reliable, accurate and sensitive enough.
Why do results improve on a retest when nothing has changed?
Part of the improvement can be the client learning the test. In one study, netball players' times on a change-of-direction test kept improving until the second or third testing day, so familiarisation matters.
What is typical error?
The spread of one person's results when they repeat a test and nothing has changed. A retest only shows real change when the change you care about is bigger than that spread.
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