Assessment and application of the Bunkie test in college students

The 'Bunkie test' is a functional performance test consisting of five different plank positions held bilaterally. No current literature has established appropriate rest intervals for in-between plank positions nor termination criteria.

The current study examined rest interval duration and test termination criteria for the Bunkie test.

Forty college students participated in the study, completing three Bunkie test sessions separated by at least 48 h. Positions included the anterior power line (APL), lateral stabilizing line (LSL), posterior power line (PPL), posterior stabilizing line (PSL), and medial stabilizing line (MSL). Positions were held for as long as possible with proper form. Each session utilized a different rest interval of either 30s, 1min, or 2min between each of the plank positions.

A repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant differences bilaterally among rest intervals for APL (p = .009; p = .001) whereas, no significant differences (p < .05) were observed for PPL. LSL and MSL and PSL had significant differences among rest intervals on one side (LSL left, p = .002; MSL right, p = .006; PSL right p=.005)). Post hoc analysis with a Bonferroni adjustment revealed less variability among times between the 1min and 2min rest intervals between plank positions.

The current study revealed that utilizing a shorter rest interval time frame (30s) appears to create greater variability in performance outcomes. Since no differences were found between using a 1min or 2min rest interval for both the final hold times and tension times, a rest interval of at least 1min will allow for more dependable data.