Day 44 – Test my condition

A while ago Patrick gave me and article that outlined tests to evaluate your physical fitness. You can see the article here: How fit are you? Our simple fitness test will determine your level of conditioning—and teach you how to improve it.

From the article I’m concentrating on the following tests:

1. Resting Heart Rate
2. 1 ½ Mile Run
3. Push-up
4. One-Rep-Max Bench Press
5. Bent Knee Crunch
6. Sit and Reach Test*


Here is how I performed on each test:

1. Resting Heart Rate Test

This morning before I got out of bed I took my one minute pulse and got 57 beats. For me this is average – in running season my heart rate can drop to below 50 bpm.

2. 1 ½ Mile Run Test

On the weekend I completed this run in 11:24. This would put me in the top 70 percentile based on this chart

V02 max and 1 1/2-mile-run time, 30- to 39-year-old men

Percentile V02 max 1 1/2-mile run
rank (minutes)

99 >59 <7:11
90 50 9:30
80 47 10:47
70 45 11:34
60 42 12:20
50 41 12:51
40 39 12:36
30 37 14:08
20 35 14:52
10 33 15:52
01 <27 >18:00

Sources: The Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine
(1995)

3. Push-up Test

I have been working steadily on pushups and recently I completed 60 in succession. I’ll use this as a baseline.

Age 20-29 30-39 40-49

Excellent >36 >30 >22
Above average 29-35 22-29 17-21
Average 22-28 17-21 13-16
Below average 17-21 12-16 10-12
Poor <16 <11 <9

4. One-Rep-Max Bench

Last week a friend and I partook in the time honoured male bonding extravaganza of trying to out bench press each other. I didn’t win but I did finish lifting 275 lbs. which is 131% of my body weight.

Age 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59

Superior [greater than [greater than [greater than [greater than
or equal to] or equal to] or equal to] or equal to]
1.63 1.35 1.20 1.05
Excellent 1.32-1.62 1.12-1.34 1.00-1.19 0.90-1.04
Good 1.14-1.31 0.98-1.11 0.88-0.99 0.79-0.89
Average 1.00-1.13 0.89-0.97 0.81-0.87 0.72-0.78
Fair 0.89-0.99 0.79-0.88 0.73-0.80 0.64-0.71
Poor 0.73-0.88 0.66-0.78 0.60-0.72 0.54-0.63
Dismal [less than or [less than or [less than or [less than or
equal to] equal to] equal to] equal to]
0.72 0.65 0.59 0.53

Source: The American College of Sports Medicine's Guidelines for
Exercise Testing and Prescription (fifth edition)

5. Bent-Knee Crunch Test

The amount of crunches and v-sits I’ve been doing has really helped here. I completed a total of 63 before my form broke down and I was straining for one more.

Age <35 35-44 45

Excellent 60 50 40
Good 45 40 25
Marginal 30 25 15
Needs work 15 10 5

Source: Faulkner, R.A., Syringings, E.S., McQuarrie, A., and Bell, R.D.,
"Partial Curl-Up Research Project Final Report" (1988), submitted to the
Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute

6. Sit and Reach Test.

This one wasn't in the article but it's basically how close or over I can stretch toward my toes with my legs straight. I did not perform well on this one, although my flexibility is getting better.

I stretched to 16 cms from my toes which puts me in the poor category. I'm stretching a bit everyday to improve this number.

So now I know where I stand with these tests and every two weeks I’ll complete them to see how I progress. Hopefully I’ll get better since I’m more concerned with how I improve than how I compare to the article’s ratings.

See you tomorrow.