Tcar - Carminatti's test

The Tcar or Carminatti’s test is named after its inventor Lorival J. Carminatti.

It is an intermittent test to evaluate the aerobic endurance of football players and consist of running with an increasing speed and an active recovery.

The test starts with a running pace of 9 km/h (over 15 meter distance) and the speed is increased every stage (one stage is 90 seconds in duration) through adding 1 meter of running distance to each shuttle (resulting in 0.6 km/h per stage). Each stage consists of five 12-seconds running sequences interspersed with 6 seconds recovery. Each stage is 90 seconds in duration, and is increased with a running distance of 1 m consecutively (3 - see references below).

The player’s final score of the test is the running velocity (-level) calculated from the distance of the last set divided by the time to complete the stage repetition. In case of an incomplete set, peak velocity should be interpolated with the following equation:

Peak velocity = v + (ns/10) * 0.6

where v is the velocity of the last fully completed stage and ns is the number of repetition completed in the partially completed stage.

The test seems to measure reliably and valid (3, 5) in football players, as the coefficient of variation was 1.4% and the performance in the test was correlated with VO2max and the velocity at VO2max.

Additional studies have used the Carminatti’s test to assess physiological responses (2) and the physiological variables related to fitness determined by continuous and intermittent running (1, 4).

References

1. Carminatti, L.J., Possamai, C.A., de Moraes, M., da Silva, J.F., de Lucas, R.D., Dittrich, N., and

Guglielmo, L.G. Intermittent versus Continuous Incremental Field Tests: Are Maximal Variables Interchangeable? J. Sci. Med. Sport. 12: 165-170, 2013.

2. Cetolin, T., Foza, V., Carminatti, L.J., Guglielmo, L.G., and Da Silva, J.F. Prescribed differences in

exercise intensity based on the TCAR test over sandy ground and grass. Rev Bras Cineantropom Desempenho Hum 12: 29-35, 2010.

3. Da Silva, J.F., Guglielmo, L.G., Carminatti, L.J., De Oliveira, F.R., Dittrich, N., and Paton, C.D. Validity

and reliability of a new field test (Carminatti's test) for soccer players compared with laboratory-based measures. J. Sports Sci. 29: 1621-1628, 2011.

4. Da Silva, J.F., Guglielmo, L.G., Floriano, L.T., and Arins, F.B. Relationship between aerobic fitness and

repeated sprint ability in soccer: protocol effect. Rev Bras Cineantropom Desempenho Hum 13: 111-116, 2011.

5. Dittrich, N., da Silva, J.F., Castagna, C., de Lucas, R.D., and Guglielmo, L.G. Validity of Carminatti's test

to determine physiological indices of aerobic power and capacity in soccer and futsal players. J. Strength. Cond. Res. 25: 3099-3106, 2011.