Test Your Fitness Before Starting Any Exercise Program. If you have been thinking about getting in shape, or getting back into shape if you have taken some time off, there are six fitness test you need to complete in order to gauge your fitness prior to beginning any exercise routine. Before you start any exercise program you should know the following about yourself, and have baseline numbers for each so you can track your progress and know what areas you need to concentrate on most.
6 Fitness Tests You Need to Do Before Beginning an Exercise Program
Fitness Test #1 - Resting Heart Rate
This is your pulse, and you will want to measure how many times your heart beats per minute. As you exercise, and get into better shape, your resting heart rate should decrease, so knowing what your baseline is will become important.
Fitness Test #2 - Heart Rate After Activity
Do 15 minutes of light cardio (on a treadmill for example) and then take your heart rate. Again, as you get into better shape this number will gradually decrease.
Fitness Test #3 - Blood Pressure
Blood pressure is a measure of how hard your heart is working to move blood around your body. Cardio and exercise should lower your blood pressure over time and reduce your chance of developing heart health problems.
Fitness Test #4 - Body Fat
This is an important number, and actually more important than your weight. Measuring your percentage of body fat tells you how much of your body is fat. Generally speaking the lower this number the more fit you are.
Fitness Test #5 - Strength
Even if you are not into "body building" knowing your overall strength will be important to gauge fitness level. How many sit ups, push ups, pull ups, etc you can do over a timed interval is a common way to assess strength. As you get stronger, these numbers should improve.
Fitness Test #6 - Flexibility
Flexibility often gets forgotten when talking about overall fitness, but it is important to gauging your fitness level. The more flexible you are the more benefit you will get from your exercises and your overall fitness will improve.
All of these tests can be administered by a physician, or a personal trainer. Even a local gym professional should be able to help you get your baseline fitness numbers from these tests. Once you know your baselines you can prioritize and know what you need to work on most, and see when you are making progress.
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