Fitness Tests

When I turned 47 I decided to spend a good part of the next three years improving myself physically. The plan was to be stronger at 50 then I was at 25. I had let myself get out of shape and was once about 12kg overweight. Aches and pains were starting to beset me and I caught myself thinking that this was all part of the normal aging process. Before this fitness regimes were all a bit open ended with no particular goal in mind except general physical fitness. I remember once taking out a gym membership for $300 and only going twice.

Now I am 15 months into the program. This is the longest period of sustained exercise and weight control that I have done in my life and hopefully it is now an ingrained habit. One thing that I have noticed is that my aches and pains have disappeared. I used to get quite a sore left knee, clicking and sore Achillies tendons, groin pain and a little back pain from time to time but not anymore although I am careful not to injure myself. It seems that strengthening the muscles around the joints protects them from wear and tear and joint deterioration can be reversed.

I’m thinking that now is the time to set some goals that would define what being in good shape means.

This is my first draft of tests of physical fitness:

Running - One mile in under 7 minutes
Push Ups - 50+ without pause
Chin Ups - 15
Plank - 3 minutes
Side Plank - 2 minutes
Jogging - 10 KM
Cycling - 150 KM

I haven’t included any weight lifting tests here as I don’t own enough weights or do very heavy lifting. I imagine lifting half your body weight in a military press might be a good test – I’ll have to think about it.

I wont do all the tests in one go. Soon I will attempt to run a mile as fast as I can and post the results.