Testing Your Fitness Level

It was amazing, this story I read in the paper the other day. There was this guy from Baltimore who went hiking in the woods, and naturally (I told you this was an amazing story, not a dull one), he got lost. Real lost. Luckily he had his dog with him -- a German shepherd with an overactive bladder -- and the dog made an art of "marking" his territory every hundred feet or so. Now it was cold this day, bitter, and the guy knew if he didn't make it back to his car, he would freeze to death. Then he got an idea.

The guy made it back to his car without even a wrong turn. How? He followed a trail of frozen puddles of dog tinkle. Now this is a fitness article, so I'm sure you're asking, "What does canine urine have to do with my workouts?" Nothing... except this: Working hard to better your health and your body is pointless if you don't mark where you've been -- and if you don't have a clear trail for where you're going.

Underwater weighing, VO2 max testing, dynamometers are the tests pros use to measure fitness. By monitoring your body fat, aerobic endurance and muscular strength over time, you can see what effect your workouts and diet are having on your fitness, and you can adjust them to design the perfect path for where you want to go. But unless you've got a couple hundred G's to spend and a Ph.D., these tests are out of your reach. So what can you do in the simple comforts of your own home or gym to monitor successfully your progress?

FAT-TASTICALLY EASY

If you're into working out for aesthetic reasons, knowing the way your body fat fluctuates is extremely important. By tracking changes in your body fat, getting bigger and more ripped ceases to be trial and error, and it becomes simple. Think about it. Let's say you decide to try a new diet. After a month (because you've been tracking your body fat) you see that you've gained four pounds, but lost 1.5 percent body fat. Then, you can determine how much of that weight gain was muscle, how much was fat, and most importantly, you can discover where to go next. Should you eat more? Less? Add one cardio session a week? Take one off? Only the numbers can say for sure, and only if you monitor them.

Obviously, you don't have a hydrostatic (underwater) weighing system in your bathroom, so how can you monitor your body fat levels at home? Here are three ways:

1) THE MIRROR: By simply studying how your body looks in a mirror, you can track long-term changes. Just make sure you keep a diary of your notes so you have something to which you can refer when it comes time to re-asses your program.

2) THE ELECTRICAL IMPEDENCE SCALE: A number of manufacturers are selling these now (Tanita is the one I recommend). These scales shoot an unnoticeable electrical current through your body to measure fat levels. While they aren't entirely accurate, if you measure yourself under the exact same conditions over a period of time, you can see how your body fat is changing, even if the percentages aren't actually percentages.

3) SKINFOLD CALIPERS: This is the system I use, and recommend you use, too. Calipers are "pinchers" that measure the thickness of fat at different sites on your body. To be scientific, you'd need to have someone else measure you -- the same person each time -- and measure at the same sites. You can use calipers successfully, however, on your own. Simply take measurements at the sites you want, then write the numbers (measured in millimeters) in a diary. Two weeks later, measure the same sites and compare the numbers. If they're getting smaller, you're losing fat. You can even plug the numbers into countless calculators on the Web to get a fairly accurate percentage of body fat.

The caliper I use is an Accu-Measure 2000 ($21.95 with instruction book). It's available at www.bodytrends.com.

For a body fat percentage calculator visit http://strengthnspeed.tripod.com/Nutrition/BodyFatCalc.htm.

MUSCLE IN ON THE TRUTH

If you want to get stronger, you have to track your muscular strength. Professionals measure muscular strength with dynamometers, and changes in muscular density with biopsies. I doubt, however, you have a dynamometer or scalpel handy.

The best way to monitor changes in muscular strength on your own is by tracking your one-rep max. A one-rep max is exactly what it sounds like: the heaviest weight that you can lift for a single rep. When using one-rep max testing to monitor strength, it's standard to do bench press for upper-body and leg press for lower. Here's how:

1) WARM UP: Select a weight you know you can handle easily, and perform two sets of 5 to 10 reps with it; you don't want to wear yourself out with too many reps. Rest for 2 minutes.

2) TEST THE WATERS: Increase the weight to allow for about 3 reps. If you get more than 3 reps, rest another 2 minutes, increase the weight, and go for three reps again. If you achieve your 3 reps, rest 3 minutes, and go to the next step. If you get less than three reps, rest 3 minutes, then go to the next step.

3) GO FOR IT: When you're fully rested from your 3-rep set, increase the weight by about 10 percent and try for one rep. If you get more than one, rest another 3 minutes, increase the weight, then try again. If you can't lift the weight, rest 3 minutes, decrease the weight, and try for one rep. When you get to a weight that allows only one rep, you've found your one-rep max.

Do one-rep max testing once a month. If the weight goes up, you're getting stronger. If it doesn't, it might be time to adjust the old training schedule.

DON'T JUST BLOW HOT AIR

If you're interested in cardiovascular progress, you need to monitor your endurance, too. If you've got a stack of bills to burn, you could shell out for a VO2 max test every month. If not, you can test your own cardiovascular endurance in the comfort of your own gym. Here's how:

1) TAKE THE FIRST STEP: Get on a treadmill and start going at 3.3 mph with no incline. Do this for the first minute.

2) TAKE IT UP A NOTCH: At the beginning of the second minute, bump the incline up to 2 percent, and go for another minute.

3) GET IT ON: Beginning with the third minute, bump the incline up 1 percent for each minute. This means for minute 4 you'll have a 3% incline, minute 5 a 4% incline, and so on.

4) TAKE NOTE: Continue the progression above until you're completely exhausted and have to stop. Take note of how long you were on the treadmill. If it was 12 minutes, write that down in your diary. Then, when you come back a month later and get 17 minutes, you'll know your cardio fitness is improving.