Fitness Tip of the Day: Friday Facts and Findings--How Do you Track your Fitness Progress?

Many of us use a scale, tape measure and our clothes to track our weight loss progress, but few of us track our "fitness" progress.  How do you do this?  Using a Physical Fitness Test (PFT) is a good way.  Yes, these are similar to the tests done in school that used to give me nightmares!  No arm hangs, I promise!

As a personal trainer, specific protocols are followed when performing fitness assessments.  These are usually done before working with a client so that we know where they are as far as cardiovascular health, muscle strength and endurance and flexibility.  I found a video from Fitness Blender that demonstrates ways you can test yourself at home for these things--some of these are based on tests done by trainers.  I will list them here, but you should watch the video for a visual of proper form.  

1.  One minute walk.  There are several ways you can do this.  The easiest way to do this is with the use of a reliable pedometer.  You reset the pedometer and walk as fast as you can until you hit 1 mile. This will simply tell you how fast you can walk 1 mile.  This could also be done on a treadmill--you just have to adjust the speed to be walking as fast as you can.  If you don't have a pedometer, you can use your car to map a mile and walk that. (If this test is being done by a trainer, your heart rate would be taken as well--this would determine your heart's ability to recover back to resting.)

2.   Push Ups.  Do as many push ups as you can with proper form.  They can be full or knee push ups.  When you can't do any more with proper form, stop counting.  Do them at a comfortable pace, speed does not matter.

3.  Squats.  Same as push ups, do as many as you can with proper form.

4.  Planks.  Hold the plank for as long as you can while maintaining proper form.  Again, if you need to modify and do a half plank on your knees, you can.

5.  Sit and Reach.  Watch the video for this one--it's kind of hard to describe.

In 4-6 weeks, repeat the tests, write down your results and see where you've improved and where you might need to work a bit harder.