The Best and Worst Fitness Tests You Can Do
Fitness tests are a great way to assess your overall health and track your progress over time. However, not all tests are created equal. A push-up test measures your upper body strength. It’s a good indicator of whether your muscle-building training is paying off. It also shows how well you can deal with a physical challenge.
1. The Cooper Test
Designed by Dr Kenneth Cooper in 1968, the Cooper test is a field-based fitness test. It’s also known as the multistage fitness test, bleep test and PACER test and it estimates your maximum aerobic capacity (VO2 max).
You walk or run around a track and the number of laps you complete in 12 minutes is recorded. Then, a formula is used to calculate your maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max) from that number.
While the 12-minute Cooper test is an excellent tool for assessing your VO2 max and fitness level, it can be stressful to perform and doesn’t accurately represent your everyday activity level. The test’s reliance on running, rather than walking, may also make it difficult to apply to people with knee or hip issues. Make Body more flexible with か まぐ ら 100 通販.
2. The Turkish Get-Up
Whether you crawl under barbed wire, carry a heavy sandbag for miles or perform high-intensity gymnastics, the ability to get up off of the floor is one of your most important fitness qualities. For that reason, the Turkish get-up (TGU) is an invaluable movement to work into your training.
The multistep movement blends a chest and overhead press, a hip hinge and a lunge. It’s a rare exercise that incorporates so many cornerstone movements into one single move.
It hits almost every muscle group, with a particularly strong emphasis on the core and its stabilizing muscles. This is especially important because transitioning between lying, kneeling and standing requires a large amount of shoulder stability, which helps to prevent injury from poor posture and lack of mobility.
3. The Mile
The Mile, as its name suggests, measures your aerobic fitness by assessing your ability to run the distance in 12 minutes. This test is best done after a thorough warm-up and on a track or on a road where you can use GPS to accurately measure your time and distance. The results can then be plugged into one of these formulas to give you an estimate of your VO2 max.
Performing push-ups is an excellent way to see how your upper body strength training is improving. However, because the number of push-ups a person can do is dependent on age and gender, the test can be misleading. Generally, men in their 30s can perform 44 or more push-ups, and women in their 50s can do 29 or more.
A simpler and more reliable way to measure your cardiovascular endurance is with the step test, says Mark Reifkind of Girya Russian Kettlebells in Palo Alto, Calif. This test requires a 12-inch-high step and someone to time you. To do the test, stand on the step with your right foot and then your left, and then alternate stepping forward and backward to keep the pace consistent for three minutes.
4. The Plank
You’ve probably heard that the plank is a great core workout, but if you want to do it well, it requires more than just getting on your elbows and toes. To perform the best planks, you need to create full-body tension, keep your spine and hips perfectly perpendicular to the floor, and maintain a ton of tension through your shoulders. That’s a lot to ask from someone who hasn’t spent much time actually practicing this position.
The plank is named for its resemblance to a piece of wood that has been bent into a plank shape, and it’s one of the most effective calisthenic exercises for improving balance, strength and endurance. It also doesn’t require any additional equipment and is a good choice if you don’t have a gym membership or prefer to train at home.
5. The V-Sit
The v-sit is an advanced ab exercise that improves balance and core stability. “A strong core is necessary for performing any physical activity, whether it’s walking or running or playing a sport,” says Dani Losefo, coach at STRIDE Little Italy. Adding the v-sit to your workout will help you perform better, and avoid injuries.
“If you’re new to the v-sit, it can be challenging to achieve and maintain a full position,” says Katie Kollath, ACE, cofounder of Barpath Fitness. “It’s important to work up to this move and do it in a controlled manner. The last thing you want is to push yourself too hard, which could put unnecessary stress on your body.”
A common mistake with this exercise is swinging your arms when lifting your legs and back into the v shape. This can lower the effectiveness of the movement on your ab muscles. Instead, start by holding your arms at your sides in the beginning of the movement and avoiding swinging them.
