Want to test your fitness? With results from these 5 simple fitness assessments, you can set goals based on where you are now.
Remember your scores will serve as a benchmark – no narky self-judgement required. Instead, give yourself props for committing to improvement and get cracking.
1. Maximum push-ups in one minute
Record if you do these on your knees or toes, i.e. full push-ups. In both cases your nose should come to the ground.
2. Maximum classic crunches in one minute.
Using the American Council of Exercise classic crunch – isolating the abs and ensuring your eyes are always up to the sky, not forward. One rep starts slightly off the ground and ends with your head slightly off the ground.
3. Wall squat
Stand comfortably with feet approximately shoulder width apart, with your back against a smooth vertical wall. Slowly slide your back down the wall to assume a position with both your knees and hips at a 90° angle. The timing starts when one foot is lifted off the ground and is stopped when the subject cannot maintain the position and the foot is returned to the ground. After a period of rest, the other leg is tested.
4. 1km run (on treadmill)
Even if you need to walk it, record how ever long it takes you to do a kilometre loop. You can also do this in a park or on the beach.
5. Sit & reach.
This simple test is designed to measure the flexibility of your hamstrings and lower back. Remove your shoes and sit on a flat surface, legs extended in front of the body, toes pointing up and feet slightly apart, with the soles of the feet against the base of the step (if there is no step, just any flat surface will do).
Place the ruler on the ground between your legs or on the top of the step. Place one hand on top of the other, then reach slowly forward. At the point of your greatest reach, hold for a couple of seconds, and measure how far you have reached. Take note of your best score, measuring the centimetres or inches beyond the base of your foot (you might need an accomplice). If you didn’t reach your toes, measure how far before your feet your fingers stopped (log the score as negative centimetres).
Use the chart (pictured above), record your scores and go back in 4 weeks’ time!
