What should be a minimum fitness level?

I was training towards doing one at the time, just never was able to get there. We had an assisted pull up machine in the gym, I got really close.... I don't know, right now I do lat pull downs and am working on increasing me weight there. My fitness level right now is kind of sad.

Personally I think the assist machine is worthless. My opinion is you have to really work always with your own bodyweight, and then increase the motion by breaking it down into pieces that you can do. I'd rather see someone add weight to a partial motion, than remove weight from a complete one.

Of course I have no idea what I'm doing... but I can do pull-ups

I agree re: the assisted pull-up machine.

I am a woman and can do a set of 3 pull-ups or 4 chin-ups. I got there by working negatives, then jump pull-ups, and then just training them across sets when I got something resembling the movement.

Here are some links I found useful in learning and improving pull-ups. (Ignore the macho crap in the third link; it gets good after the intro.)

http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/proof-pull-10-tools-getting-better-pull-ups
http://physicalliving.com/the-right-way-to-do-pullups-and-chinups/
http://jasonferruggia.com/top-10-ways-to-improve-your-pull-ups/

That's minimal fitness level? Damn, I've got like 3 of those. That list is insane.

I don't even know what some of them are.

Very interesting topic! It's something I've been wondering about, too.

When I first saw the "14 pull-ups" part, I got pretty freaked out like everyone else. I thought "is this the entrance test for the SWAT team or something???"

Fortunately, someone else pointed out that the pull-ups are highly modified -- they are what most people call body rows. They are far easier, and I've never seen that movement being referred to as a "pull-up" anywhere else...

14 of those is far more....sane.

Anyway, I'd say that these standards seem fair. I've been exercising for about 2 months now, and I'm able to meet all of these goals by now (I actually did a 8:20 minute mile just last week -- after starting at over 10 minutes!).

These will be pretty challenging for a completely sedentary and unfit person (like me when I first started at the end of May), but I would say they are certainly doable. For me, I think the toughest goals here were the bodyweight squat and the 8:30 min mile.

This is why I was always so discouraged with exercise. In school we had to do the "President's Physical Fitness Test" every year, which had minimum requirements for a number of things like this. I couldn't do any of it and never earned the 'reward." I never got any encouragement from PE teachers and certainly not from my peers, who preferred to laugh at my failures instead. I don't mean this as a 'sob story,' I just think we need to work harder at encouraging people to move at their own ability and to push themselves to meet new challenges and goals, regardless of where they are in skill or physical wellness.

Thanks to a number of inspiring people who began encouraging me about a year ago, I've learned that it's never too late. I run 3 times a week and lift 2-3 times a week. I doubt I'll ever run a mile in 8 minutes (I'm currently at about 12 minutes per mile), but I'm more fit than I've ever been and continue to get stronger every day.

We had handsome young marines come to our school and assist with running the tests... I was 230 pounds in highschool.... couldn't do the flexed arm hang at ALL to my humiliation... or the running.. or the jumping.. The only one I could do were the sit ups. (this was back in the day when we were encouraged to do actual sit ups and not crunches) Uh, yeah I did more sit ups than almost anyone.... But I think that had more to do with Mr. tall, dark, and handsome Marine holding my ankles and encouraging me than it did with my actual fitness.. every time I sat up I got to be just a bit closer to those beautiful brown eyes of his.. sigh..... but yeah I smelled like bengay for a WEEK after that cuz my abs hurt so bad.

- Run at least a mile - I can run at least 13 miles
- 24 Curl-ups -I could do more
- 18 Push-ups - when I got to 12 full pushups with good form, I stopped doing regular pushups and started doing harder variations. I assume I could do 18 regular ones.
- 14 Pull-ups - are you kidding? I can do 12 let me ups and I can do 5 pullups starting with my feet on a chair in front of me. It will be awhile before I can do one full unassisted pull-up.
- 15 second flexed arm hang - I can do longer
- Trunk lift of at least 9" - probably
- Back Saver sit and reach of at least 8" - I'm not flexible, I can't touch my toes, never could.

I have no idea how fast I can run 1 mile. I'm guessing faster than 8. I have run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes then slowed my pace and kept going. Running as fast as I can for a mile seems like a waste because I don't see how I'd meet my mileage goals for the day. I think it's more important to be able to keep going.

I would further add: being able to squat your body weight. - I'm sure I can't do this! I do body weight strength training. This is something to work toward. I plan on starting a lifting program after race season, but it isn't a priority right now.

I consider myself reasonably fit but I can't do everything on this list. But if I was on the 10th floor of a burning building, I could run down all the stairs and get out. And if I had to run up the stairs to get to the roof to wait for help I could do that too. I'm guessing that in most emergency situations my level of physical fitness won't keep me from surviving, which is what it all boils down to. We all need the minimum amount of fitness to keep us from dying in an emergency but deciding what that level is seems difficult.

Bump.

- Run a mile in under 8:30 -- yes, assuming it's flat terrain.
- Run at least a mile - yes
- 24 Curl-ups - don't know what a curl up is
- 18 Push-ups - yes
- 14 Pull-ups - not traditional pull ups, but after reading responses I don't know what this is
- 15 second flexed arm hang - yes
- Trunk lift of at least 9" - don't know what this is
- Back Saver sit and reach of at least 8" - don't know what this is

Depending on what the unknown things are, this doesn't seem much of a test of overall fitness. It seems mostly just a test of strength. There is more to fitness than being strong.

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I've been thinking a lot about fitness lately, and what it means. Strength/endurance/speed/explosive power/mobility/balance.

For example, as a runner, I realize that maximizing strength needs to happen in parameters. There's a certain point where adding to that dimension can start to inhibit speed, explosive power and mobility. On the other hand, if I'm below a certain fitness level, adding raw strength benefits my ability to run faster and farther.

I did a little digging to see if I could come up with physical fitness "minimums" that the average healthy adult should be able to meet. I think the discussion could shed some light on contentious issues. Basically, you could say, "It doesn't matter what you do in the gym as long as you are meeting your goals. IF you can run a mile in under 9 minutes and squat your body weight. If you can't do that, then you need to make sure that you have a basic fitness level in each area."

I came across the State of California's fitness measurement: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/pf/documents/healthfitzone09.pdf

This is the Healthy Fitness Zones (HFZs) to evaluate fitness performance. These zones are criterion-referenced standards established by The Cooper Institute of Dallas, Texas, and represent minimum levels of fitness that offer protection against the diseases that result from sedentary living.

This suggests:
- Run a mile in under 8:30
- Run at least a mile
- 24 Curl-ups
- 18 Push-ups
- 14 Pull-ups
- 15 second flexed arm hang
- Trunk lift of at least 9"
- Back Saver sit and reach of at least 8"

I would further add: being able to squat your body weight.

If you were going to suggest a general fitness standard, what would you add or take away from this list?

I disagree with the pull-ups, if you can do 14, although different muscle group you would probably be able to do 40+ pushups, not 18.

I would say for pull-ups, a man should be able to do a min of 3, and a woman 1, not 14.

This suggests:
- Run a mile in under 8:30
- Run at least a mile
- 24 Curl-ups
- 18 Push-ups
- 14 Pull-ups
- 15 second flexed arm hang
- Trunk lift of at least 9"
- Back Saver sit and reach of at least 8"
I would further add: being able to squat your body weight.

I love this. Some of these I don't know and will look up. I also saw the less-intimidating modified-pull up post (thank goodness!!!). After looking all these up, I will probably add these to my fitness goals. I know I can to the run (both in distance and speed), but I'm only beginning with my strength training (it's been about a month) and I love to have a target to achieve.

Also loving all the additions! Keep it up guys!

ETA. Just to clarify, they don't mean run a marathon where you average 8:30/mile. They literally mean run one mile in that time. A lot of people on here who say they know runners who couldn't achieve that are probably confused. Running a mile in eight minutes isn't that fast, but it's obvisouly not a marathon pace.

Maybe I'm in better shape than I thought I was. I weigh about 325 pounds and can do everything on that list except the 8:30 mile and prior to a hamstring injury I was very close at 8:48 (this assumes the 14 pullups are actually the modified pullups described by another poster).

Luckily I should be able to do all of those in the original list. For me the hardest exersize are push ups. In high school and middle school it seemed I could do a few pull ups but the push ups were always torture for me.