3 easy ways to test your fitness

by

How do you know if you are fit? Or at least sufficiently fit? And how can you tell if your condition is improving?

You have to test yourself. And while most people haven’t taken a fitness assessment since their high school presidential physical fitness test, it’s good to check in on your progress every now and then.

“It’s really important to know that what you’re doing is working,” says Matt Fitzgerald, coach and author of “Run Like a Pro (Even if You’re Slow).” “Then you can of course correct it if what you are doing is not working.”

In fact, some experts say that testing yourself every three to six months can tell you more about your fitness than looking at daily performance, which often varies significantly. While fitness can be measured (and expressed) in many ways, here are three tests designed to measure strength and cardiovascular fitness that can be performed with little or no equipment.

• The Dead Hang for grip strength

• The Cooper Test for cardiovascular fitness

• The Plank for core strength

Greater grip strength is associated with lower rates of heart and respiratory disease, cancer, and a reduction in all-cause mortality. The correlation is so strong that a group of experts recently called for it to be considered as a way to measure overall health, like blood pressure or heart rate.

Grip strength is not only important for numerous daily tasks, such as opening jars and carrying groceries, but it is also a good measure of your overall strength. “As you train and improve the rest of your muscle fitness, grip strength needs to evolve,” says Luke Baumgartner, an expert in exercise testing at the University of Memphis.

To perform the test, all you need is a pull-up bar and a stopwatch.

For men, anything from zero to thirty seconds should be considered beginner level, says Mathias Sorensen, an exercise physiologist at the Human Performance Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Between 30 and 60 seconds can be considered intermediate, and more than 60 seconds can be considered advanced. For women, Mr. Sorensen said, zero to 20 seconds for beginners, up to 40 seconds for intermediates and more than 40 seconds for advanced.

If you can’t hang on a pull-up bar at all, or don’t have access to one, you can also test your grip strength with a farmer’s carry, where you pick up a dumbbell or kettlebell in each hand and move forward. a walk. Start with whatever you can carry for 90 seconds – and increase the weight as you get stronger. A very good score, for men and women, Mr. Sorensen said, is carrying 70 percent of your body weight for 90 seconds.

Because your grip improves with your overall strength, you can also develop it by training with free weights, using dumbbells, a barbell or kettlebells.

Aerobic fitness is correlated with longer lifespans and lower levels of cardiovascular disease, all-cause mortality and cancer.

The best way to measure this is to test your VO2 max, or how much oxygen your body uses during exercise. This usually involves going to a lab and training to exhaustion.

But you can get an idea for yourself with the Cooper Test.

Getting your VO2 max estimate requires a bit of math. Take your distance (in miles), multiply it by 35.97, then subtract 11.29. This is your estimate of your VO2 max. You can also enter your distance into an online calculator and compare your results with those in your age group.

For example, 2.4 km in 12 minutes corresponds to a VO2 max of about 43. That would be an excellent score for a 65-year-old man, good at age 45 and average at age 25. For a woman, a score of 35 would be excellent out of 65, good out of 45 and average out of 25.

For more information about your own age group, please click here.

If you want to improve your score, Mr. Fitzgerald recommends slightly increasing what experts call your training volume, or the number of workouts in a typical week. For example, jog four times a week instead of three, but at a low intensity instead of a moderate one. Then switch to a shorter, intense run about once a week. Spending more training time at a slower pace allows your body to fully recover for the next run, resulting in better overall performance, he said.

That way, when it’s time to pick up the pace, “you just have more to give and therefore get more out of that session,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

A strong core can prevent injuries, reduce back pain and help you exercise better. One of the easiest ways to test your core strength is a simple, timed plank pose.

To perform the test, all you need is a flat surface. But a yoga mat can make it more comfortable.

A good goal for men and women of any age, Mr. Baumgartner said, is a plank pose for at least one minute. More than three minutes is exceptional.

If you can’t hold a plank for a minute, it’s a good idea to start working on your core strength, Mr. Baumgartner said.

To build your core, start by determining your maximum hold time. Then perform two to three sets of plank holds a few times a week, adding 5 to 10 percent of that time for each week until you consistently hit a minute, Mr. Sorensen said. Then continue to slowly increase the time to further increase your strength.

You can also incorporate squats, push-ups and bridges into your workouts two to three times a week to improve your core strength, or try activities such as cycling, kayaking, dancing, barre lessons or swimming.

Whatever your result, it’s important not to fixate on your score, said Mr. Baumgartner. The point is to test yourself consistently to track improvement.

“The result is not a judgment on you,” he said, “it’s a snapshot.”

Hilary Achauer is a freelance health and fitness writer.

Leave a Comment