Having Fun With Fitness Tests

Fun with fitness tests? Yes, that’s what I said. Fitness tests can be a great way to have fun with your workouts. While some at home fitness programs require a fitness test before starting, some people use testing techniques to keep their motivation high and to track their performance progress. For a little fun, consider testing yourself once a month or every other month to see how you are progressing. Depending on the intensity of your training, you may be surprised at just how much progress can be made in a month’s time.

While you can feel free to come up with your own fitness test, there are many tests available online as well. The United States Army uses what they call the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) to ensure their soldiers are maintaining a basic level of fitness. This particular test includes sit-ups, push-ups, and a 2 mile run.

Soldiers must get at least a score of 60 on each to pass.The APFT allows for men and women to do as many push-ups as possible in a 2 minute time. A man, aged 27 to 31 must get at least 19 push-ups while a woman of the same age needs to get 17. For sit ups, both men and women need to get 45 for a minimal passing score. Women get 20 minutes and 30 seconds to finish their 2 mile run and men get 17 minutes.

Keep in mind, this is a minimal passing score. The U.S. Army would like people to do better than the minimum. Additional scores can be found online. See how you measure up.

Depending on your fitness goals, you may want to add some additional steps to your test. Check out the fitness test in your P90X Fitness Guide for some ideas or simply use that test as your monthly gauge of progress.

Watch over time how the numbers on your fitness tests change. You will be able to see your hard work pay off if you keep track of the results over the long run. Fitness is hard work but it can also be fun. This is just one way to mix it up and have a little incentive to working out.