I wanted to be a footballer growing up, like most people at my English school did. I didn’t have the talent – few do – but some of those who have the requisite natural gifts still fly under the radar.
That’s why the Under Armor Next Academy was created—to identify the sports stars of the future with six simple athletic tests, open to all participants between the ages of 16 and 20. to go.
My only expectation was that I would have a good time. But the tests actually revealed some weaknesses that helped me inform my training going forward.
What is The Under Armor Next Academy?
The Under Armor Next Academy is set up inside London’s Battersea Power Station and assesses endurance, strength, speed, agility, power and athletic intelligence through six separate tests.
Anyone aged 16-20 can apply online to do the trials for free, with top performers earning a chance to compete for one of Under Armour’s 12-year sponsorships.
Under Armor Next Academy Fitness Tests
Sports Intelligence Test
Many of the Under Armor Next Academy tests are ones you can try at home. This first one, not so much.
I was faced with a wide panel containing thousands of LED lights. Green squares would flash in front of me, turn red after a second or two, and then explode—my mission was to dispel them with a simple hit, but it was harder than it sounded.
After three matches, I had achieved a high score of 80, which I was quite happy with.
“Not to make you feel bad, but there’s a guy who came in and hit about 280,” the trainers who put me through the trials told me. I was just below average – 86 for men and 94 for women.
Test of strength
After hanging up my football briefs, I turned to CrossFit to satisfy my competitive streak. As a result, I thought the strength test might be up my alley, but it ended up being my worst score.
With the bicep at the side and the elbow at a right angle, I had to squeeze a grip dynamometer machine as hard as I could for a few seconds.
I gained just over 50 pounds—a little more than half of what a teenage aspiring American football player had recently hit, according to the Academy team. It was also slightly below the men’s average of 53 kg.
I already knew that grip strength isn’t a strength for me, but up until this point I’ve never given it the time of day in my training. Fortunately, there are many ways to improve your strength.
Power test
When I think of a strongman, my mind goes to World’s Strongest Man competitors who shift huge weights. What I often forget to consider is the element of speed – power equals force times speed, after all.
That’s why the Academy’s strength test is a maximum vertical jump, and it’s as simple as it sounds. From a standing start, jump as high as you can. The only requirements are that your hands stay on your hips and your legs stay straight during the jump.
The Under Armor team had a digital sensor to measure the scores. You’re not going to find this at your average gym, but you could replicate it by jumping up against a wall while a partner marks how high your legs reach.
Going in I was told anything over 50cm was good, the average for men was 43cm and the average for women was 33cm. I managed 45m.
Apparently the record holder in this test was a teenager, not much taller than five feet, who beat the competition with a jump almost twice my own.
Speed test
The speed test is a 15m sprint, with the Under Armor Next Academy sensors on hand to give me my split-second time.
I expected this and after giving my hamstrings one very thorough warm up I was excited to try it.
The coaches on hand set a target of 2.5 seconds and my initial efforts were just under that, between 2.3 and 2.4 seconds.
I was pleased with this, with the men’s and women’s average sitting at 2.42 and 2.7 seconds respectively. Then a horrible score of around 2.2 seconds, which I choose not to challenge, gave me the best result of the evaluation overall.
Agility test
The 5-10-5 drill tests agility by challenging you to move quickly through a few changes of direction.
When I did, there were three parallel lines each five yards apart—you can mark those distances with cones if you do it elsewhere.
Start by standing in the middle line, facing along it, then turn 90° and sprint to one of the lines on either side of you. Touch your foot to the line, make a turn, then sprint to the line furthest from you.
Again, touch it with one foot as you come back to yourself, then bring the hare back to the center line to finish.
This was the test where my former obsession with football really came to the fore, and while I wasn’t able to record my exact time, I do know that I managed to beat the averages of 4.95 and 5.4 seconds for male and female participants. .
Endurance test
Whether you call it a bleep test, a multi-stage fitness test, or hell on earth, chances are you’re familiar with this bus run test.
Under Armor uses a variation. Start running with a beep, reach a 15-meter marker before beep two, turn and return to your starting point before beep three, then rest for 10 seconds before continuing again.
The interval between beeps decreases as you progress through the levels. “Level 17 is good, level 19 is really good,” the trainers tell me.
There’s a reason they leave it for last. It feels like a walk in the park at first, but it quickly picks up.
I hit a wall at level 18, my legs turning to lead and refusing to cooperate as I urged them to move faster.
What did I learn?
After the last test, the Under Armor Next Academy team issued me a scorecard showing my results. Instead of giving me my times and numbers, it showed a score out of 100 for each, as well as an overall score: 62.56.
The trainers then showed me the leaderboard, with top players scoring 80 and above. Paris 2024 is not pushing me late, then.
But I was really happy. I have also been able to change my training since then to address my weaknesses in strength, grip and power.
I’m hoping that my customized take on 5×5 training, lots of loaded transfers, and a healthy dose of contrast training will do the trick.
