In this article, you are about to find out how to assess fitness level at home and it can be done easily.
First and foremost, it is recommended that you warm-up prior to stretching as the very first fitness assessment assesses flexibility.
When assessing fitness level, you will want to make sure that your body is prepared for each fitness assessment.
Warm-Up to Assess Fitness Level
You can go on a mild jog outside, or run in place in your home, or even do jumping jacks, just get the body heated up.
This is important, don’t stretch the muscles cold. That can actually hurt your muscles without warming up. Even a good conditioning workout can aid in warming up your body.
Be sure to get in some type of physical activity prior to assess fitness level. This is to make sure you get the most out of each fitness assessment.
Sit-and-Reach Test
Remember to warm-up, once you feel that you have got the lower body nice and warmed-up, it’s time to assess fitness level:
- Remove your shoes and sit with knees extended. Use a box, yard stick, or tape measure for results.
- Place measuring device so that the feet are at the 15″ marker. For example, the yard stick would lie on the floor between the legs with the feet in line with the 15″ marker. Those who cannot tough their toes will have a reading under 15 and those who can reach beyond their toes will have a score above 15.
- Place hands on top of each other with fingers straight. Exhale slowly and reach out as far as possible on the box or tape measure.
- Repeat test two more times holding position for at least 2-3 seconds.
- Take the best score out of the three attempts and write that down.
You’ll find that this improves flexibility just taking this fitness assessment. That’s a side benefit of assess fitness level in terms of flexibility.
Leg Swings to Assess Mobility
For this assessment, all you need to do to assess fitness level is swing the legs back and forth.
This is a bonus fitness assessment; it’s recommended that you don’t use a wall so you know how good your balance is.
Without good mobility, you’ll likely find that it’s hard to keep balance, and without good balance you’ll find that your joints aren’t mobile.
Mobility defined is a range of exercises designed to increase and improve range of motion.
This particular way to assess fitness level is designed to see how good your balance and range of motion is in terms of staying still during the leg swings.
Here’s how to do this fitness assessment:
- Swing the right leg for 30 seconds
- Swing the left leg for 30 seconds
You’ll find that you will figure out quickly how mobile and stable your lower body is from assessing your fitness level.
Overhead Squat
The overhead squat assessment is utilized to see your basic movement control and mobility (therefore flexibility and stability). In order to squat properly (basically sitting and standing without external support) there must be sufficient level of balance, flexibility, stability, and mobility.
Here’s how to perform the overhead squat:
- Hold a towel above the head with arms straight.
- Stand with feet hip-width apart with toes pointing straight forward.
- Squat as low as possible in a 2-0-2 tempo (two seconds down, no pause at either end range, and 2 seconds up)
- Keep both feet completely on ground throughout squat movement.
- Perform at least 3 to 5 squats or more.
- Make note of any abnormalities from anatomical neutral for the head/neck, shoulders, shoulder blades, middle and lower spine. You can use a mirror for this.
The primary intent of the overhead squat test is to observe overall range of motion, balance, and movement/postural control (mobility/stability).
Push-Up Assessment
The push-up assessment is to be utilized to determine basic upper body push strength, control, and stability.
Here’s how to assess fitness level for upper body strength:
- Perform the push-up movement (horizontal adduction with elbow extension) while standing. Use a wall, this is to ensure the proper movement pattern.
- Get on the floor. Position hands so that both wrists are out from and level with the chest (not shoulders) and so that both hands point forward in the same direction with elbows directly above wrists.
- Keep fingers spread wide apart with just enough space under palms for a pencil to fit or slide under the hands (as if trying to screw the hands into position into the ground).
- Start with the chest off the ground and shoulders just below level of elbows then push-up until the elbows are not quite fully extended.
- Maintain neutral spine throughout the entire push-up.
This assessment should take no longer than 2 to 3 minutes. You are not expected to get the 2-0-2 tempo push-ups. If you can, awesome, you have amazing upper body strength and control.
The Takeaway
These are all easy fitness assessments you can do anywhere, anytime, and it assesses upper body strength, lower body control and mobility, more importantly, there are two more assessments you can do easily!
Find some space in your home, open up at least a half hour in your schedule, and you can do each fitness assessment.
The takeaway is all of these fitness assessments can and will aid you in seeing where you are at in terms of mobility, flexibility, balance, strength, and upper body control.
Each of these fitness assessments can be done at home, a gym is not at all required.
Just make sure to warm-up prior to performing each fitness assessment.
Feel comfortable to comment below any takeaways and how this has helped you assess your fitness level.
