What exercise (or set of exercises) would you consider a gauge of all-round fitness?
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Scubdup
Posts: 104 Member
To compare two people's levels of fitness I'd have them compete at:-
(I can see some flaws in my list, but just wanted to keep it simple, and hopefully generate some good replies. I recognise that some people cannot perform certain exercises, and wanted to keep this as broad as possible - like -"let's focus on the 99% as opposed to the 1% of exceptions we can all appreciate are out there)
- Maximum deadlift weight
- 5k running time
- 2k rowing time (or maybe 400m swimming)
(I can see some flaws in my list, but just wanted to keep it simple, and hopefully generate some good replies. I recognise that some people cannot perform certain exercises, and wanted to keep this as broad as possible - like -"let's focus on the 99% as opposed to the 1% of exceptions we can all appreciate are out there)
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Replies
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Generally US elementary schools and military tend to get it pretty close to right...
2 mile run time
push ups
pull ups
Sit ups1 -
The trouble is that different people specialise in different things. By those standards I'd probably be considered fairly unfit.
I can deadlift 99.5kg, run 5k in 28min, row 2k in around 10min. Note I say can, each of these would be giving my absolute all.
Personally I'd also look at upper body.
Maybe how much they can shoulder press.
Something to do with farmers walks.
My PT has particular workouts for me to do that help her judge how much fitter and stronger I am.
One of them is probably a pretty good way of comparing fitness levels.
1mile run
100 trx rows
100 squats
100 press ups
1mile run
All done as fast as possible.0 -
I wouldn't for a handful of reasons - even if we're focusing on the 99%. People specialize in various areas, people have various limitations that mean that they can't do xyz, even people who don't specialize flat out can't do different sorts of exercises because they don't know how, etc.
I suspect the fairest test would by some sort of cardiovascularly intensive activity and some sort of body weight activity.
I say some sort for cardio because there are plenty of people who can't swim as well as people who don't swim on a regular basis, people who are much stronger cyclists than runners (and vice versa), people who don't know how to ride a bike, I'm sure plenty of people haven't tried to run a mile (let alone 5k), and most people can't use a rowing machine correctly without being taught (or really, without looking it up on something like Concept 2's website). I honestly don't think these are exceptions to the rule.
My issue with non body weight strength tests is how many people actually do any sort of weight training? It seems like it would make more sense to focus on movements that can be learned quickly, that people do on a regular basis, and/or that people have done in the past (I'm sure a lot of people have done/attempted sit ups and push ups at one point or another).
The reason why the tests done in elementary school and the military are somewhat good benchmarks for those populations, is because those populations do some sort of organized fitness activity on a regular basis that include things like running and sit ups (less so with K-5 students).1 -
Thanks for the replies.
I appreciate that people specialise, but I doubt there are many people who'd argue the outliers - the powerlifters, and the ultramarathon runners - represent all-round fitness.
I'm interested to know what people feel would be a good test of that.
(I'm trying to come up with some new benchmark activities I can use to gauge my own progress)0 -
I am a runner. That’s my activity of choice.
My overall fitness and training plan incorporates building and maintaining push, pull, squat, hinge, stability, flexibility and speed and endurance cardio (primarily through running for me).
While I don’t necessarily have a specific benchmark for each that will say I’m fit vs not fit, my training plan works on improving all of these metrics on a constant basis (although not all at exactly the same time).
So I gauge my progress by comparing movements in all of those categories over time.
As for your list, deadlift is one specific (albeit compound with a few elements) movement that is really not a wholistic view of strength. Rowing takes time to learn and even a lot of us that do it probably aren’t doing it correctly. I appreciate that you’re trying to aim for full-body experiences for an assessment, and it would be fine for you to measure yourself, but I wouldn’t consider it a universal.2 -
The problem with including exercises that have a high degree of skill is that the result is likely to be badly skewed towards the person with the right skill set and best technique rather than the highest fitness.
Deadlift needs good technique, familiarity and practice - leg press doesn't, it's why it's often chosen for studies as a pure strength test.
Running is a fair test (for most anyway).
Rowing is pretty borderline, a good rower could easily beat a fitter person with poor technique, may also give an advantage to taller people.
Swimming is a high skill sport, doesn't matter how fit you are if you are a useless swimmer (hands up here, not quite drowning is the extent of my swimming ambition
)
Cycling (especially on an exercise bike) doesn't require a lot of technique in that a newbie cyclist and an experienced cyclist won't have a very wide spread of efficiency, even less for effectiveness in terms of short term power.
Bodyweight exercises are a pretty good comparison.3 -
Thanks for the replies.
I appreciate that people specialise, but I doubt there are many people who'd argue the outliers - the powerlifters, and the ultramarathon runners - represent all-round fitness.
I'm interested to know what people feel would be a good test of that.
(I'm trying to come up with some new benchmark activities I can use to gauge my own progress)
For what it's worth I wasn't talking about ultramarathoners, powerlifters, and the like. I'm talking about someone who say, either rides rides a bike on a regular basis for transportation or for fun (and doesn't train for anything) but never runs (yes, these people exist). I know multiple people who fit that description. I could could even go slightly farther out of that population and include people who are a bit serious but don't compete and then up the ladder a bit more to people who compete locally but don't have aspirations for elite level greatness.1 -
iron man swimming, biking, running.3
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Thanks for the replies.
I appreciate that people specialise, but I doubt there are many people who'd argue the outliers - the powerlifters, and the ultramarathon runners - represent all-round fitness.
I'm interested to know what people feel would be a good test of that.
(I'm trying to come up with some new benchmark activities I can use to gauge my own progress)
If you're trying to gauge your own progress, why are you looking for things that (as per your OP) "compare two people's level of fitness"?
There are published standards by age group for a number of activities. Why not pick some of those to test yourself against?
I'm with @aokoye about the specialization question: My machine rowing performance for my age/weight is OK-ish, but I never run, and only started trying to keep my swimming at a "save myself" level of proficiency in my mid-40s when I started rowing. So I'd do not that badly against an appropriate benchmark at rowing, but would be laughably bad at running or swimming.
(I'm not arguing that I'm a paragon of well-rounded fitness; I'm not one. But I am arguing that your initial list has issues: Both the rowng and swimming are significantly skill-based, which seems like a flaw if you want to compare 99% of people, even 99% of active people.)
So, are you looking for benchmarks for you, in which case you can use anything (and maybe appropriate published reference benchmarks), or is this a competitive thing with the non-outlier 99% of other active people? If the latter, I think @sijomial has a point about using less skill-based tests.2 -
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NorthCascades wrote: »
Like an ironman or triathlon of some sort. Something where there's several different activities.
Could be the swim, bike, run sort ... could also be a kayak, bike, run.
Or maybe a decathlon.
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Thanks for the replies.
I appreciate that people specialise, but I doubt there are many people who'd argue the outliers - the powerlifters, and the ultramarathon runners - represent all-round fitness.
I'm interested to know what people feel would be a good test of that.
(I'm trying to come up with some new benchmark activities I can use to gauge my own progress)
if its to gauge your own progress, what do you want to get better at? do you want to be able to run faster/get stronger/swim further?2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »
Like an ironman or triathlon of some sort. Something where there's several different activities.
Could be the swim, bike, run sort ... could also be a kayak, bike, run.
Or maybe a decathlon.
don't forget a sack race or egg and spoon.... :laugh:2 -
TavistockToad wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »
Like an ironman or triathlon of some sort. Something where there's several different activities.
Could be the swim, bike, run sort ... could also be a kayak, bike, run.
Or maybe a decathlon.
don't forget a sack race or egg and spoon.... :laugh:
We need the 3-legged race to make it a triathlon.
I’m almost old enough to be entering my second childhood so those races will suit me.
Until then, Turkish get-ups would be on my list.
Cheers, h.2 -
middlehaitch wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »
Like an ironman or triathlon of some sort. Something where there's several different activities.
Could be the swim, bike, run sort ... could also be a kayak, bike, run.
Or maybe a decathlon.
don't forget a sack race or egg and spoon.... :laugh:
We need the 3-legged race to make it a triathlon.
I’m almost old enough to be entering my second childhood so those races will suit me.
Until then, Turkish get-ups would be on my list.
Cheers, h.
Did all these at the summer party for my fitness group, the sack race is flaming hard more than one of us ended up flat on our face.
But I'd also include a game of rounders (for those of you in the US that is the original UK version of baseball, only our bat is only about the third of the size of a baseball bat. I got the winning half rounder in that!!1 -
Fitness is really about being able to recover quickly then being able to do repeated efforts to about the same as the first effort after the forth or fifth time of doing. To win a bike race you certainly don't need to be the fittest person there. By being smart and conserving energy and not burning matches when you don't have to and burning matches at the right time you can be in contention for a place. Run for 1 minute at max effort put a marker down then have 5 minutes easy and repeat seeing how close you can get by effort 5 if still within 5% then fitness level is good. Fitness has nothing to do with strength even though it's important. It's the ability to recover and repeated efforts that are what defies true fitness4
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Thanks for the sincere replies (less so for the obligatory internet "how can I prove I'm a contrarian?" style answers
)
I think body-weight exercises are a good suggestion. Max pull-ups, time taken to perform 50 air squats, perhaps? It's going to end up being burpees isn't it!
I just want suggestions for some new and different targets to vary my exercise program, really.TavistockToad wrote: »If it's to gauge your own progress, what do you want to get better at? Do you want to be able to run faster/get stronger/swim further?
I have no burning unique goals, which is why I asked I suppose. I wanted to see if anyone could suggest something quirky but scientifically-sound that I'd not really tried before.
(And don't get me wrong: I've still got plenty of work to do - it's more about staying interested than already accomplishing all my existing goals!)
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Burpees - the one including a push-up and a jump with hands extended overhead.0
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