Y7 failed "bleep test" in PE

[AnnonymousMum]

My nearly 12yo exercises a lot, he swims for an hour twice a week (fast), he's done triathlon training weekly since he was 8 and completed several races. He cycles 3 miles a day as that's how he gets to school. We go for a 5k run/walk every weekend as a family.

Over the last year he's really struggled with running. GP prescribed an inhaler "in case that was it" but he never struggles with swimming or cycling and his lungs volume test thing was normal so I'm not sure it's respiratory or fitness related.

Today he did his first "bleep test" at school and scored 4.5 which is 'poor' apparently. He says he was one of the first to drop out and that he was exhausted. He is really disappointed as he used to consider himself very sporty but has now lost confidence in all but swimming. He quit triathlon over the summer because he was finding it too hard to keep up, but he thought in his year as a whole he'd still be average at least.

I think he needs to go back to GP but I don't know what to ask really. Has anyone had this?

you posted all the physical activity he does

but from what i understand he only swims now? or that’s the only one he feels confident in? so no cycling anymore?

why did he give up the triathlon training? because of the breathing issues?

what’s his weight like?

he’s 12? And feels he was good at sport but is now struggling to keep up?

chances are it’s a strength to weight thing. This is why many kids give up sports as teens.

basically they have a growth spurt. They can’t put muscle on at the same speed so now they’re pushing a couple of extra stone and a foot or so around. It’s hard.

it’s the same as if you put a weight jacket on him and told him to run/triathlon etc. he’d be way way off his pb’s, and find it really hard.

swimming is less affected as the water negates the weight somewhat- it’s more about being the same size and strength as his peers.

i wish someone had explained this to me as a 12 year old. I went from being county level to finding everything so hard. Even the strength training was hard- of course chin ups were hard when I was bigger. I just needed a period where I didn’t grow to allow my strength to catch up.

explain this to him. It may be hard on and off for the next few year until he comes out the other side of puberty, but long term he will be fine.

• He cycles to and from school so 3 miles a day, but not cycling competitively anymore.
• He's a healthy weight, BMI is 57th centile on the NHS website.
• He has definitely grown a lot the past year so that might be affecting it.
• He quit triathlon because of the breathing difficulties yes and getting down about always being last.

i wouldn’t ignore it. Given how unfit the average child is these days, an active athletic child like your son shouldn’t score poorly in the bleep test.

It is one of those things that could be nothing or could be something.

If it were one of my sons I would want proper bloods, heart and lung tests to rule any meaningful medical causes out.

I thought the DfE had advised against beep tests in schools as its too demoralising for kids.

Shin splints can be a real problem when you're growing and they're hard to run through - can feel like you're running through molasses, no matter how hard you push.

But you said it's more that he's out of breath? Running is harder and has different demands on lung capacity than cycling or swimming. He'll get better at managing his breathing the more he runs.

Any history of heart defects in the family?

I would pursue this - privately if need be, as a friend's healthy- looking child was similar and had a very serious heart condition which wasn't picked up until she was a teen and her heart could no longer work hard enough for a growing body.

I would want a full health screen for him.

There's clearly something else affecting his fitness levels. Thyroid/ post-viral fatigue (or whatever it's called now)/ iron levels (less common for boys) etc. Or is he overtired from actually doing too much? How's his diet? Gluten intolerance can affect iron absorption.

Bleep test is quite a specific skill. Did he start too fast and get too tired? Could you try repeating it with him at home and see how he does?

Given how unfit the average child is these days, an active athletic child like your son shouldn’t score poorly in the bleep test.

Yes, I thought the same.

Do his heels hurt when he runs? Or his shins ? Could be severs disease or shin splints ?

Have they checked his heart?

Has Vocal Cord Dysfunction been considered? It can sometimes be mistaken for asthma.

I would want to get his heart checked tbh. I'm sure it's probably just growing, as others have said, but I definitely think it's worth ruling out heart issues.

Oh gosh, might be something, might be nothing.
I was an incredibly sporty child, but a very slow one. I am in incredibly tall person. The two are very connected. Short people peak earlier, it was always explained to me that all my energy was going up, not out.

@Howmanyusernames123 explains it a lot better. As an adult I now understand it was a strength to weight ratio thing.

I found the bleep test a very narrow measure of fitness. I did poorly on it at year 7 but had done cross country in primary school. For me, I didn't get the pace right but as it's a one shot fail and your out I didn't get to adjust and learn. Running is now one of my favourite forms of exercise but when I start I'm slow and I lean into the run. In later years I was awful at pe purely due to a dislike of the teachers. They were biased on only focused on the netball team and avoided teaching as much as possible. We would be indoors in the canteen from September to April and I thought if you can't be bothered to teach us why should I bother engaging in the lessons. What I could do out of class was more than I would do for them.
My sister was a sprinter running for county in primary school but awful as distances.

I wouldn't panic with the result but I think it probably warrants some time at the weekend working out of its some inherent issue or a bleep test issue.

Could he possibly have glandular fever?

I agree it sounds very unusual for a child who is fit and active to score so poorly in the bleep test

Perhaps get his heart checked? No medical degree here but only other thing I can think of

Has he tried taking the inhaler. I would be tempted to go back to the GP but also try it post meds at home.

My DD did poorly in her bleep tests as she had anaemia secondary to Crohn's disease. I would probably be popping to the GP for a full blood count and check up for him.

DD was the same, could swim miles, literally as she was in swim squad but couldn't run at all. She did have severs disease but once she stopped growing we did C25k together and that helped her build up her stamina. She also had an inhaler which did help as her chest gets tight in the winter when it's cold.

Cardio / breathing is very timed and deliberate in swimming. Learning to breath properly running is a different skill.

Amongst what has already been suggested, I would get a cheap Vitamin D and an iron test from Boots and do at home. They aren’t totally accurate, but will give a good indication. Appreciate I was a girl, not a boy, but being very low in these areas seriously impacted my health and attitude to fitness as a child and they are annoyingly easy to remedy.

Another suggestion for blood test. My daughter was very low in B12/Iron and was exhausted/breathless all of the time.

I also thought bleep tests were banned in schools, becausevthere are other ways to assess fitness without pushing them to max. Cooper test is a good one.