Today was fitness test day for me. Every 4 weeks we will revisit the same fitness test and compare our results. Obviously the aim is to improve on the results from the last time. The results categorise you into beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
We had to do the max number of push ups in a minute (knees or toes), sit ups (how far up you can go), a sit and reach test, a 'how long can you hold a wall sit' test and a 1km time trial.
Now, as a PT, alot of people assumed I'd be in the advanced category. But, just because I can lift weights, and I'm pretty fit does not mean I am anything over beginner stage. I fell rougly between beginner and intermediate. Some things were beginner, some things were intermediate, one was advanced.
So, here are the results:
No of push ups in 1 minute: 25 on my knees. Not great, but not terrible either. My upper body strength isn't that great. This put me in the intermediate category.
Sit ups: This is the one people laugh at me for. I cannot do a sit up without someone holding my feet. Not one. Therefore I am a beginner.
Sit and reach test: This is a flexibility test. You reach for your toes and see how far you get. You get either a +,- or a 0cm result. Mine was +12cm. YAY!!! This put me in the advanced category.sit
Wall sit: I lasted 35 seconds. A little better than I thought I would. This puts me in the beginner category.
1km time trial: I did it in 8mins 24 seconds. This puts me in the beginner category again.
So, overall I am probably intermediate.
I was impressed with my push ups. I've never been a fan, even though I know the science behind them and I make all my clients do them. I just dont, so to be in the intermediate category is fine for me. I need to get to 31 to be in the advaced category. I don't think I'll get here in 4 weeks but maybe in the 8 or 12 week fitness test I will be.
The sit ups amuse me. I have never, ever, ever, EVER been able to do an unassisted sit up without using my hands a little as leverage. Not when I did Karate as a kid. Not when I did gymnastics as a teenager. NEVER!!! So I wasn't too surprised at the result. I'm not sure how to improve on that either. It ever mattered that I could swing myself around a bar with just my core strength or that I could hold a handstand, or a candle position, or that I can cartwheel in a perfectly straight line between gym mates 2 feet apart. It doesn't matter that I can hold a plank, or do mountain climbers or burpees. It didn't matter that I ould do back and forwards walkovers, handsprings and the like. I have never been able to do a sit up. Will have to try some things out to see if I can fix this. To be intermediate I need to be able to do 1 full sit up with my hands across my chest. I really want to be able to do this by the end.
The sit and reach didn't really surprise me. I have always been flexible. I have always been able to touch my toes. Part of it is natural (my physio who taught us our rehab training said I'm almost a floppy but not quite). Part of it is from years of gymnastics and the stretching that comes with it. Part of it is a love of stretching and the feeling of looseness that comes with it. I would love to get my whole hand over my feet by the end of the 12 weeks.
Wall sits. I HATE THIS! Not just because it hurts my quads and hammys. I can deal with this. This is where it's supposed to hurt. I can even deal with the hurting of my core as I hold my back straight. It's the pain in my knees. I have feet issues (thanks again to the physio from the rehab course for telling me this when all the specialists and physios I have seen for the last 12-13 years have been telling me there's nothing wrong). This causes ankle pain (I think I almost single handedly keep the guys who make sports tape in business). This can also cause major knee pain. I get it exercising sometimes, but I usually get it when I've been on my feet all day at work. This I can deal with. I've been dealing with it since I was about 9 or 10. I've gotten good at managing it. I know when I can push on and when I have to stop. I know when I need to ice them, or when I need to use heat. I know when to take ibuprofen of a night because I know in a few hours I'll be awake and in pain. It's a little like recognising the signs of a migraine and trying to beat the headache before it turns into one. (I get migraines too). The problem with the wall sit is that it makes my knees ache. Now, this again comes partly from my feet issues. But it is also partly because my knee caps don't sit in the centre of my knees. If I pull my feet into my body so my knees point to the ceiling, my kneecaps sit slightly to the outside of my knees. It's only noticible when I have my knees bent. It's not a leg strength issue. I can leg press more than I weigh. I can do squats and lunges no problem. Wall sits are a whole nother story. But, maybe, I can improve on the wall sit time a little. At least to 1 minute which would put me in the intermediate category.
Finally, the 1km time trial. I cheated a little because I didn't want to do this indoors on a treadmill, but I struggled to find somewhere that was 1km, or 500m or even 400m to do this. So, I did my normal 3km run (a little over) and took my average time from that. Problem is that where I run is quite hilly, so my time for each km lengthened a little. I might need to get my mapmyrun app to tell me when I have done the 1km, and just run from my house to the 1km mark, and walk back again. That way it'll be the same distance, and fatigue won't have much to do with it. To be intermediate I need to be between 5.30mins and 8 mins. I would love to be intermediate by the next test. If not, definitely by week 8's test. It's only 25 seconds I need to shave off, and if I do it as the 1km, rather than an average, I'm sure it'll come down. I doubt I'll get under 5mins 30sec by the end of the 12 weeks, but that's my goal.
I'll do it all again in week 4.
Happy training.
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