How to Test Your Fitness Level Using Free, Accurate Tests

If you are starting or currently participating in an exercise program, it is really important for you to know how fit you are. For one thing, it allows you to track your progress and improvements, or areas you need work. More importantly, fitness testing lets you know whether you are improving your health by doing what you are doing, or if you need to adjust your workout plan. You might find you are in poor physical health and didn't even know it. If this is the case, it is important for you to get checked out by a doctor to see if you are in good enough health to begin or continue exercising.

There are lots of cool ways (tests with impressive names like hydrostatic weighing and bioelectrical impedance )you can get tested by a doctor or personal trainer to determine your level of fitness. The problem is, you will have to pay a doctor or trainer to administer these tests. So how do you determine how in shape you are without spending any money at all? There are a few simple tests you can perform by yourself at home with only a clock, measuring tape, and your computer. These tests, while not as impressive sounding, are still surprisingly accurate.

The first thing you should do is test your resting heart rate. Sit still for ten minutes and relax. Don't worry about anything, don't talk to anyone, don't move around, just sit and relax. When ten minutes have passed, press two fingers onto your inside wrist, slightly toward the thumb side, and find your pulse. Don't press too hard, this will obstruct blood flow. Count the beats for one minute, or for thirty seconds and then double your result. This number is your heart rate measured in beats per minute. Beats per minute can range anywhere from 40-100 and still be healthy, but generally a lower number indicates higher cardiovascular fitness. A fit person's heart does not need to beat as often because their heart has a higher stroke volume (stroke volume is the amount of blood that the heart pumps with each beat). The average number of beats per minute for a man is 70, while the average for a woman is 75. If yours is significantly higher, it may indicate a problem and you should see a doctor just in case.

You should also monitor your blood pressure. Usually drug stores or sometimes even grocery stores have free blood pressure cuff tests available. You sit down in a little chair and put your arm through the cuff and follow their directions. The resulting two numbers are your blood pressure readings. The higher number is your systolic pressure, or the pressure exerted by the heart on the blood vessels as it pumps blood. The lower number is your diastolic pressure, the pressure that remains inside the blood vessels between pumps of the heart. A "normal" blood pressure reading would have the systolic pressure at less than 120 and the diastolic pressure less than 80. A result higher than this indicates a stage of either pre-hypertension or actual hypertension. It should be mentioned that very low readings could also indicate a problem. Very high or very low readings should be checked out by a doctor.

BMI (or Body Mass Index) is a measure that is commonly used to determine whether a person is underweight or overweight. BMI is determined by dividing your weight in kilograms by your height in meters. You can also use this BMI Calculator to find your BMI. The "normal" range is from 18.5-24.9. A BMI of below 18.5 is considered "underweight." "Overweight" is 25- 29.9. After that, there are three categories of obesity you may fall into. "Obese (class 1)" is from 30-34.9. "Obese (class 2)" is from 35-39.9. A BMI of higher than 40 means that you are "morbidly obese." BMI is commonly relied upon, but its downside is that it doesn't take into account different body types. A heavily muscled bodybuilder may weigh a lot and therefore be considered overweight, while someone in the normal category may have a very high amount of body fat and very little muscle mass.

To avoid the inaccuracies that sometimes occur with BMI measurements, you should take into account your body fat percentage (what percent of your body weight is composed of fat, as opposed to lean body weight). Lean body weight is composed of bone, muscle, and organ tissue mass. Avoiding loss of lean body weight is why it is better to measure your progress in terms of percent body fat loss rather than "weight loss," as that weight could be made up entirely of muscle. Say for example you get sick for two weeks and do nothing but lie around. You are thrilled when you step on the scale and learn that you lost five pounds. In actuality, you might have the same amount of fat as before, but because of your sickness you lost water and muscle tissue. Now you weigh less but your fat weight has stayed the same, making the percent of your body that is fat even higher.

You can determine your body fat percentage at a clinic or weight loss center by using methods not available to the average person (these are the potentially expensive tests we are trying to avoid), but you can also do it yourself using a measuring tape and a calculator. You can also use skinfold measures, if you have calipers and know how to use them, but since this method requires special equipment, I am not going to cover it in this article.

To measure yourself accurately, use non-elastic measuring tape. Measure each site three separate times and take the average. Measure around your wrist, your upper arm just below the elbow, your hips around the fullest part of your butt, your waist around the thinnest part of your torso (usually higher up than the belly button). Pull the measuring tape tight enough so it is snug but doesn't dig into the skin. Plug your information into this calculator. You can do the equations yourself as well, but I find this automated version is much simpler for the average person. This website also includes a handy chart for determining what category of fitness (athletic, obese, etc) your body fat percentage falls in.

Now that you have all this information, what do you do with it? If you are planning on trying to improve your results with an exercise program, I recommend keeping a spreadsheet of your results, and include the date you took these measurements. This will allow you to track your progress over time and ensure you are getting the maximum benefit for your efforts.

Sources:

ACE Personal Training Manual

http://www.bmi-calculator.net