With the first week of March coming to an end, I thought it would be a great idea to discuss one of the most important things I do at the start of each month. I perform a range of tests to monitor my health and fitness. I then compare my results with statistics and ratings online, but more importantly against previous months. I want to ensure that I am improving myself every single month which is why I do the tests in the first place.
Fitness tests and standards are recognised world wide and you can even find ones that are specific to your country. This is what makes them such a fantastic tool to measure your performance and health. Not to mention, they are so simple to understand and you can do as many or as little as you want. Fitness tests assess both health related and skill related components of fitness. Health related components of fitness form our overall health status, whether we are active or not. They are needed in everyday activities as they help us to improve our overall health. These components are also vital in sport and physical activity. They include Cardiovascular Endurance (Aerobic Fitness), Muscular Endurance, Strength, Flexibility and Body Composition. Skill related components of fitness are essential when playing sport and similar activities as they focus specifically on skills to improve your performance. They include Agility, Balance, Coordination, Power, Speed and Reaction Time.
As a Physical Education teacher, I organise for my students from year 7-10 to perform a range of tests in the first month of school. I then retest them again in the last month of school to see how they have progressed throughout the year. Our staff carry those results over to their new teacher in the new year and the process begins again. The reason we decided to do these fitness tests is because we want to have a better understanding of each student’s physical capabilities. We can then cater our programs around their strengths and weaknesses. Just like we should be doing for ourselves as adults. This why fitness testing is so important.
So why should you take part in fitness testing? There are a wide range of benefits that not only I have already experienced, but elite athletes as well.
They keep you on track with your goals.
They monitor your progress.
You get the rewarding feeling of success and accomplishment when you smash existing results.
You are eligible for rewards from yourself if that is something you like to do.
They make you work hard to achieve successful results.
They keep you consistent in your efforts all month long.
They help to bring out that little (or large like me) competitive streak within you.
They identify your strengths and weaknesses and you can adapt your program accordingly.
Now there are no set rules as to what tests you need to complete and how often you need to do them. I have decided this year to do my tests within the first few days of each month. The tests that I currently complete are:
2km run
Beep test
Stork Stand test
Sit ups (until exhaustion)
Push ups (until exhaustion)
Squats (until exhaustion)
Sit and reach test
If you need any further information in how to perform the tests, please visit: http://www.cambridge.edu.au/go/download/?f=1738&t=1221.
the endless traveller 