Are You Really Assessing Fitness Improvements?
The Influence of Regression Towards The Mean In Athlete Assessments
Having an evaluation process that determines if an athlete has improved in key performance indicators is a critical for understanding how successful an individual’s training is over time as well as how different protocols impact a given individuals physiology and fitness. As coaches, sports scientists, and trainers we’re always working in an applied setting — as a result we’re tasked with making decisions that will have the greatest impact on a specific athlete with a unique performance fingerprint. It’s not enough to say that a 8/10 athletes on your program are improving in some specific quality — we need everyone to improve and that warrants having a somewhat sophisticated assessment process.
For starters, analyzing athlete data requires understanding what the test is measuring, and if it’s a valid test for what you’re trying to measure in the first place. Assuming the test is capable of measuring what you want it to we then need it to have a minimal amount of noise and error. Tests…
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