How Much Does a Yo-Yo Test Score Need to Improve? Norms From 248 Studies

An athlete's Yo-Yo score goes up by 40 m. Real progress, or just noise? A 2018 systematic review pooled results from 248 studies and 9,440 participants to build reference values for each test. For sub-elite soccer players, a difference of roughly 92–138 m on the YYIR1 (about five to seven 20 m shuttles) is needed before it can be considered a meaningful change.

What the study looked at

Schmitz and colleagues conducted a systematic review of studies published up to August 2017 in which healthy participants aged 16 and over completed a Yo-Yo intermittent test. They calculated reference values (means and percentiles) by test type, sport, competitive level and sex.

In the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (YYIR), athletes run 2 × 20 m shuttles at progressively faster speeds, with 10 seconds of active recovery (2 × 5 m) between shuttles, until exhaustion. The score is total distance covered.

YYIR1: starts at 10 km/h; mainly reflects endurance capacity
YYIR2: starts at 13 km/h; reflects the ability to repeat high-intensity efforts
YYIE1 and YYIE2: "endurance" versions with only 5 seconds of recovery

Key findings

Data from 248 studies and 9,440 participants were analyzed
Usage: YYIR1 57.7%, YYIR2 28.0%, YYIE2 11.4%, YYIE1 2.9%
Scores differed by sex, sport and competitive level, with elite athletes and intermittent-sport athletes such as soccer players tending to score higher
For sub-elite soccer players on the YYIR1, about 92–138 m was identified as a meaningful change
Some sub-elite athletes posted top-level scores, highlighting large individual differences

How to read this in practice

Changes of a few tens of meters may fall within measurement error and day-to-day variation; avoid over-reacting to a single test
When benchmarking, compare against the same test variant and similar sport, level and sex; YYIR1 and YYIR2 scores are not interchangeable
Because individual variation is large, tracking each athlete's trend is often more informative than team averages

The included studies differed in populations and test conditions. Check the original paper's figures for specific reference values. Data for under-16s were not included.

Using ATHCON

ATHCON records fitness test results such as the Yo-Yo test for each athlete and shows the change from the previous test, team rankings and A–S grades. With every test lined up, it is easier to judge whether an athlete's latest improvement is bigger than their usual variation.

Takeaways

Yo-Yo variants measure different qualities; YYIR1 is by far the most used (57.7%)
Scores vary by sport, level and sex, and individual differences are large
For sub-elite soccer players, roughly 92–138 m on the YYIR1 marks a meaningful change