How fit are you? Take the body4life Home Fitness Test

We all like to think that we're fit, healthy and in good shape but just how fit are you?

The easiest way to check your fitness is to take the body4life Home Fitness Test, which provides a quick and effective check on your personal fitness levels. The body4life Home Fitness Test:

• Requires no specialist equipment
• Is safely designed to be suitable for all levels of fitness
• Assesses stamina, strength, core stability, flexibility & body-fat
• Provides an instant, basic assessment of your current fitness levels

Note. The body4life Home Fitness Test is a safe and structured test which has been designed for all levels of fitness. However if you have not exercised for some time, suffer from any medical conditions or injuries, are taking prescribed medication or are at all unsure about exercising then contact either your GP or body4life, who will be able to advise you on any safety precautions that you may need to take.

To take the test, follow the step-by-step instructions and compare your scores with the results charts.

1.What do I need?

• Scales
• Calculator
• Stopwatch
• Piece of chalk
• Tape measure
• Comfortable clothing and footwear
• Pen and paper to record your scores

2. Getting started

1. Begin the test with by warming up with approximately 10 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise such as walking, jogging or easy cycling. This will safely prepare your body for the tests.

2. After your warm-up, gently loosen your joints by spending 5 minutes on mobility, smoothly moving each joint through its natural range of movement.

The body4life Home Fitness Test

1. Cardiovascular fitness test

This test assesses your cardiovascular (heart and lungs) system.

• a. Find a flat stretch of road and either walk, jog or run as far as you can in 12 minutes.
• b. Mark your start and finish positions with chalk.
• c. Measure the distance that you have covered in a car and compare your score against the table below.

Cardiovascular fitness performance table

2. Upper body strength test

This test assesses how strong you are in the upper body. a. Complete as many press-ups as you can in 60 seconds. b. Ensure that you maintain perfect technique throughout, starting by kneeling down and positioning your hands slightly wider than shoulder width apart, aligned just behind your head. Push up onto your toes and then repeatedly lower and raise your body to the floor by bending at the elbows - but not actually resting on the floor at any time. c. If a full press-up is too challenging, support your bodyweight on your knees instead of your toes. d. Compare your performance with the table below.

Upper body strength test performance table

3. Leg strength & endurance test

This test assesses your leg strength and endurance. a. Adopt the 'ski-sit' position as per the picture on the right, ensuring that your hands hang loosely at your sides, away from the wall. b. Maintain the position for as long as you can, whilst still holding perfect form. c. Check your time against the table below.

Leg strength & endurance performance table

4. Abdominal strength test

This test assesses the strength of your stomach muscles. a. Complete as many sit-ups as you can in 60 seconds. b. Ensure that you maintain perfect technique throughout, start by lying flat on the floor on your back with your knees bent. Position your hands just in front of your ears and curl your trunk upwards by contracting your stomach muscles, returning back to the floor under control. c. Compare your performance with the table below.

Abdominal strength test performance table

5. Core strength

This test assesses your core stability. a. Adopt the 'plank' position as per the picture right, ensuring that your arms are parallel, elbows tucked under your shoulders and your body horizontal. b. Maintain the position for as long as you can, whilst still holding perfect form. c. Check your time against the table below.

Core strength performance table

6. Shoulder flexibility test

This test assesses how flexible you are in the upper body, particularly the shoulders.

• a. Stand upright with your left arm behind your back.
• b. Take your right arm and reach high above your head, over your right shoulder and down your back.
• c. Stretch your left arm up your back and try and get your hands to meet.
• d. Change arms and repeat the test the opposite way.
• e. Check your performance against the table below.

Shoulder flexibility test performance table

7. Waist to hip ratio body-fat test

This test assesses how much fat is stored around your abdomen.

• a. Using your tape measure, measure the circumference of your hips at the widest part of your buttocks. Record the measurement.
• b. Take a second measurement around your waist at the narrowest part. Record the measurement.
• c. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement.
• d. Check your results against the table below.

Waist to hip body-fat test performance table

8. Body Mass Index (BMI) test

This test provides an approximation for the amount of body-fat stored around the body.

• a. Remove shoes and heavy clothing and step onto the scales. Record your weight in either kilograms or stones and pounds.
• b. Note down your height in either metres or feet and inches.
• c. Use the graph below to check your BMI

Body Mass Index graph

9. Resting heart rate (RHR) test

This test assesses the efficiency of your heart and circulatory system.

• a. Perform the RHR Test first thing in the morning when you wake up and before you get out of bed. This will ensure that you are fully relaxed and your results will be more accurate.
• b. Take your index and second fingers and locate your radial pulse at the wrist. Count the number of beats for 30 seconds.
• c. Double your number of beats to give you your beats per minute (bpm) total and then compare your score against the results table below.

RHR performance table

How did you perform?

So, how did you score?

These tests are not all encompassing but provide a simple and useful guide to your personal fitness levels. If you scored highly in some categories but below average in others, you will have an indication of where your personal fitness focus needs to be.

If you scored below average or unsatisfactory in three categories or more then you need to seriously consider your long-term health and fitness. Just two correctly structured, quality exercise sessions per week can make an enormous difference to your overall fitness and your quality of life.

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