Test Your Fitness Level at Home

When you start a new exercise program, test your fitness level. They can also help you track your progress, making it easier to identify that you may need to change your exercise plan to keep progress.

If you want an exhaustive and expensive fitness assessment, you can go to the Athletic Performance Lab. But for most people, it’s unnecessary and sometimes unaffordable.

Instead, you can do some simple tests at home to determine and track your fitness levels. Before starting or increasing physical activity, be sure to talk to your doctor to make sure it’s safe for you.

Getting Started

You will need some items to perform these health tests. Tools you want:

• Core strength and stability test: Stopwatch, exercise mat (optional)
• Push-up test: Stopwatch, exercise mat (optional)
• 12-minute run test: Stopwatch, someplace to run

Having an assistant count your push-up repeats, timing in a core test, or counting the distance you’ve run can also help. Keep your fitness test results in your journal or in your favorite fitness apps to better track your progress.

Core Strength and Stability Test

As the name suggests, this test not only evaluates core strength and stability, but also measures the strength of the upper body. It is sometimes referred to as the flat support fitness test because it uses the posture of the plate support to assess strength.

One advantage of this test is its simplicity and how it uses multiple muscles to help support the core. This test gives you a good idea of your current core strengths and can be used to track your progress.

Those who can do a hundred sit-ups are sometimes surprised that they can’t fully complete the test. Try it for yourself. However, if you can’t complete the exam, don’t worry. It just means you need to work hard to improve your core strength.

How to Do It

To do this fitness test, first do a flat support posture, and place the forearm on the ground. Hold this position for 60 seconds, then lift your right arm off the ground for 15 seconds. Put your arm back on the ground and then put your left arm back on the ground for the same amount of time.

Next, handle your legs. First, lift your right leg for 15 seconds. Put it back on the ground and lift your left leg for 15 seconds. Put it back on the ground.

Then, raise your right arm and your left leg at the same time and hold for 15 seconds. Put back on the ground and raise your left arm and right leg for 15 seconds. Put them back on the ground and hold the initial flat support position for 30 seconds.

What Your Results Mean

If you can go through this process, you have good core strength. If not, this shows that your core strength and stability can benefit from regular core training.

Push-Up Test

Push-ups have been around for a long time because they are simple and effective, both as an upper body exercise and as a measure of upper body strength and health.

Upper limb strength is essential for many athletes. It’s also good for parents of college students with kids or carrying heavy backpacks, and is often a good sign of overall health.

How to Do It

To perform a push-up test, start with a push-up position and then lower your body until your elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle. Straighten your arms and return to the starting position. This is a repetition.

Do as many push-ups as possible while maintaining good posture (your toes, hips, and shoulders should all be in a straight line). Record the numbers you can complete.

If it’s too hard to do push-ups with your feet, you can also do it with your knees.

What Your Results Mean

Test results vary by age and gender. For example, a man in his 30s who can do 44 or more push-ups is considered “excellent” in body shape, but if he can do 12 or fewer push-ups, his fitness level is considered “very poor.” But for women in their 50s, 29 or more push-ups mean “excellent” figure.

Regardless of your position on the push-up fitness test sheet, doing this test every two to three months can be helpful in tracking your progress. This can help you see if your upper body strength training is working and if you’re getting stronger.

12-Minute Run Test

The 12-minute run test, or “Cooper test,” was developed by Dr. Ken Cooper in the 1960s as a method for the military to measure aerobic fitness and provide voxic max estimation. The running test is still in use today and is a simple way to assess aerobic fitness.

How to Do It

This test should be performed after a thorough warm-up. It’s best to run on track so you can accurately measure distances (or along highways or trails, you can use GPS).

To do this, run for 12 minutes. Next, substituting the distance you run into one of the formulas will give you an estimate of your VO2 max.

• Kilometers: VO2 max = (22.351 x kilometers) – 11.288
• Miles: VO2 max = (35.97 x miles) – 11.29

What Your Results Mean

Your fitness level is determined by your age, gender and how far you can run. If a woman in her 40s can run 1900 meters to 2300 meters in 12 minutes, then her physical condition is above average; Men in their 40s have to run 2100 to 2500 meters to achieve the same level of health.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a basic fitness test?

Basic health tests include exercises that test muscle strength and cardiovascular health. The exact exercise used to perform these tests can vary. For example, squats can be used to assess leg strength, and a step test can help determine heart health.

What are the 6 basic fitness tests?

These six tests are often used to help determine fitness level.

• A flexibility test, such as the sit and reach
• An endurance test, such as the Cooper test
• An upper body strength test, such as the push-up test
• A core strength test, such as the plank test
• A target heart rate test
• A body size calculation, such as weight

How can you determine how fit you are?

All of these tests can help you determine your fitness level. The first step is to determine what you want to assess, such as upper extremity strength or cardiovascular endurance. A test is then completed to measure a specific aspect of health.

Which is the best fitness test?

There is no fitness test better than the other because they measure different things. If you’re concerned about accuracy, you might want to contact the Athletic Performance Lab and have them do some fitness tests. They will be exposed to the latest technology and state-of-the-art testing equipment.

A Word From GetHealthyPoint

All of the above fitness tests can be performed in the comfort of your home or on a nearby road or track. Combined, these tests can give you a better understanding of your overall health. Taken alone, they may help you decide what you need to do.

For example, if you have difficulty with core strength and stability, you may need to build your core muscles. Conversely, the difficulty of the push-up test may mean you need to exercise the strength of your upper body.

All in all, these tests can be a source of motivation for you to start or continue your fitness regimen program, keeping you in the best possible shape.