A fitness assessment is a great way to evaluate your base level of fitness. When starting out in a new fitness regime, its especially important to know your current fitness level so you have something to compare against in a few months time.
We have all seen ‘before and after’ photo’s like these. Not only do they help motivate other people who might be thinking about starting a new fitness group but concerned about whether it might work or not, but its equally as motivating to the subject too.
To be able to physically see and feel the changes you have made over a period of time is hugely motivational. Tracey has done incredibly well losing some weight and starting to re-shape her body and seeing this as well as her fitness getting better will help keep her on track to achieve her long term health & fitness goals
At Get fit Today we run regular fitness benchmarking sessions where you can check the number of press-ups, sit-ups and burpees you can complete in 1 minute alongside an all-round cardio fitness test too.
We also offer full 21-point health checks as well, to measure things like your height, weight, resting blood pressure, heart rate, body composition, peak flow, blood pressure, blood oxygen, flexibility (as pictured here), body fat and BMI to name just a few
Our 8-week Christmas weight loss challenge includes some basic measurements you can do from home such as height, weight, waist to hip ratio, resting heart rate, BMI and BMR (basal metabolic rate) which is a great way to establish how many calories you need to consume daily. Our challenge also includes a weight loss guarantee or your money back!! 😀
Many fitness assessments test one or more of the components of fitness. The different components of fitness are cardiorespiratory endurance (also sometimes called aerobic fitness), muscular strength, muscular endurance (muscular strength and endurance are sometimes combined into muscular fitness), flexibility, and body composition.
Some fitness assessments may also test balance, stability, mobility, or other sports or performance skills such as power or agility
PRESS-UPS
Press-ups are a great way of testing your upper body, primarily the upper arm (triceps), chest (pectoralis), and shoulders (deltoid). Men should complete the test with their toes on the ground and women should complete the modified test with their knees on the ground.
A good way to test this is by completing as many repetitions as possible without stopping. The test ends when you can no longer complete the exercise in good form. You can then compare your score with others of similar age and gender.
While it may sound slightly intimidating, taking a fitness assessment before starting a new exercise program is really nothing to worry about. It also has many benefits, including:
Identifying your strong and weak areas. When you look at your fitness assessment results, it will normally be quite clear which area you need to concentrate on to improve the most. Without doing this, you may continue to train the wrong exercises and not make the same improvements
Identify goals. What better way to set some attainable goals than to see where you need improvement? Recording your initial fitness levels will motivate you to train harder and work towards being the best you, you can be.
Programming. Programming is a word personal trainers use which means to plan your training. By identifying your weaker areas, you can then plan to include additional training around this or to re-focus your training in that area.
Monitoring progress. Comparing fitness test results to a baseline or previous test can be used to monitor your changes in fitness. The period between tests may range from two weeks to six months but it usually takes a minimum of 2-6 weeks to see a noticeable change in any aspect of fitness.
Stay accountable. By setting yourself a goal and knowing that you will measure and check it in a few months time will help keep you on track.
As mentioned above, at Get Fit Today we offer a range of fitness testing, from the at-home DIY checks, through to the in-park benchmarking. If you would like more information on any of this - please get in touch By emailing ‘info@getfittoday.co.uk’.
