What Is The Bronco Test? Explaining BCCI's New Fitness Test And Its Comparison To Yo-Yo Test
The BCCI has introduced a new fitness test called 'Bronco' to measure the players' cardiovascular health, agility and overall fitness standards.
- BCCI has introduced the Bronco Test to assess fitness of Indian men's cricket players
- The Bronco Test involves shuttle runs between 0m, 20m, 40m, and 60m markers over five sets
- Players cover a total of 1,200 metres during the Bronco Test with no rest periods
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has introduced an all-new Bronco Test to measure the fitness abilities of players contending for spots in the Indian men's national team. It is a test that pushes athletes to increase their cardiovascular limits. The Bronco test might be new to cricket, but it has long been used in rugby as a high-intensity running drill. The test is used to measure an athlete's aerobic endurance, speed, and ability to recover from fatigue. While rugby remains a much more intense sport than cricket, the amount of cricket that is being played in India these days does require players to have higher endurance than arguably a decade before. Hence, the introduction of the Bronco test.
How Does the Bronco Test Work?
The Bronco test assesses a player's cardiovascular health in a simple, yet challenging, manner. Here's a look at the setup:
Four markers or cones are placed at distances of 0m, 20m, 40m, and 60m from a starting line.
A player starts at the baseline (0m) and performs a series of shuttle runs, which involves:
- Running to the 20m marker and returning to the start.
- Running to the 40m marker and returning to the start.
- Running to the 60m marker and returning to the start.
Once the player completes all three shuttle runs, up to the 60-meter marker, one set is completed. In one set, the player covers a total distance of 240 meters.
The player has to complete a total of 5 sets of the 240m circuit, thereby covering a total distance of 1,200 meters. Upon successful completion of the 5 sets, the player's time is recorded.
What Does the Bronco Test Help Measure?
It assesses a player's capacity to sustain high-intensity effort over a prolonged period. Running between the wickets is where players make such runs during the course of a cricket match.
It requires repeated changes of direction and bursts of speed. During fielding, players are often required to chase shots racing towards the boundary, pick up the ball, change direction, and swiftly throw it back to the pitch area.
To endure such bursts of running in a short span of time isn't easy on the mind. As players are tasked to increase their cardiovascular ability, their mental toughness is also put to a stern test.
How Is Bronco Test Different From Yo-Yo Test?
One of the biggest differences between the Bronco test and the Yo-Yo test is the fact that while the Yo-Yo test measures intermittent endurance, the Bronco test measures continuous aerobic endurance and stamina. There are brief rest periods in the Yo-Yo test, while no such rest period exists in the Bronco test.
India Cricket Team