[Phoenix]

I'm interested to know what methods people here use to gauge how much their fitness is increasing and how it compares to other "fit" people.

I'm currently working on increasing my fitness (cardiovascular power and stamina). I am using swimming, and also weightlifting as I am also working on building general muscle mass.

Do people still use the 'beep test'? Is that a good way to gauge your stamina against other people?
Also I was thinking perhaps of timing my PB for 50m freestyle as a gauge of total cardiovascular power (and to a lesser extent upper-body strength). For stamina I would time how long it took to complete a longer length, such as 500m (and then later 1000m), including rest.

[Mentavious]

I test mine every winter with the 100m and 800m dash.

[Hades]

I like to use the escalating density method.
Right now I can do 54 pullups in twenty minutes. That sucks but two months ago I could just crack 35 so it's working.

[Saweeep]

It depends upon what type of fitness we are talking about really.

For CV it's how fast I can run 5k. Test it every month or so going all out on the treadmill.

HT fitness is different and for me is how many 3 minute rounds of pad work I can do before collapsing.

I don't care about fitness in the weights room, however, so never do anything requiring weights to ascertain fitness levels.

[peterthephoenix]

Strength + speed + flexibility. Lifting heavy, running fast, good physique and still being able to flex widely.

[Hardy Daytona]

If we're talking cardio fitness then I measure by timed distance running.

When I was applying to join the RAF a few months back the minimum fitness requisite was being able to do ~35 press/sit-ups in a minute and run 2.4km in 11m 11s.

I gauged my performance on whether or not I could exceed the requirements to put myself in good standing for the assessment.

I think I made it up to 2.6km at my peak which I was really proud of considering my poor track record during the teenage years.

[The_CEO]

I have my own criteria for my specific goals, that involve endurance, strength, and agility.

One general one though are body weight exercises (pull ups especially, but also chin ups and dips).

Phoenix, for swimming, there are better tests than that and I would not bother with anything less than 100m.

"The CSS test involves two timetrial swims - a 400m and a 200m. Before attempting these swims perform a thorough warmup and a small build set to get you used to swimming fast. Do the 400m timetrial first, it's less likely to effect the 200m than the other way around. Recover completely between each timetrial with some easy swimming. Perform both timetrials from a push off from the wall, not a dive.
Try and pace the trials as evenly as possible, don't start too fast and slow down. If you're not sure get someone to take your 100m splits - they can be very revealing."

http://www.breakwatersportstraining.com/...speed.html

[viajero]

(12-22-2014 07:30 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  

I'm interested to know what methods people here use to gauge how much their fitness is increasing and how it compares to other "fit" people.

I'm currently working on increasing my fitness (cardiovascular power and stamina). I am using swimming, and also weightlifting as I am also working on building general muscle mass.

Do people still use the 'beep test'? Is that a good way to gauge your stamina against other people?
Also I was thinking perhaps of timing my PB for 50m freestyle as a gauge of total cardiovascular power (and to a lesser extent upper-body strength). For stamina I would time how long it took to complete a longer length, such as 500m (and then later 1000m), including rest.

I think that if you want to test your fitness against other people, you have to compete. Ever man should compete at a sport at some point in their life, and even when they aren't competing have something like pick-up basketball or sparring in martial arts where you engage in direct competition, even if unofficial.

If you want to track your own fitness increases over time, you just have to pick tests that are specific to what you're trying to improve. If you're lifting weights and swimming, then it's how much weight you lift and how fast you swim.

[Nascimento]

I haven't done some of these in a while, but a good way to test general fitness:

- do a mile run. Anything less than 6 minutes means you are in excellent shape. Between 6-7 means you are in good shape, and any more than 7 minutes and you have some work to do.
- take a blood test. How are your cholesterol, TG's, blood sugar levels? Remember, it's not just about exercise.

On a longer term basis.. Adding muscle through resistance training, and lowering/controlling body fat levels. If you can maintain good aerobic fitness and physiological measures from the blood test while doing this, you are good to go.

These are general tests. If you want to be specific, for sprint speeds you do 100m runs, for powerful output and resistance 400m runs, for strength squat DL and bench numbers, etc.

[Kieran]

Weight and reps, body-weight, run times, resting heart rate, and even the mirror.

[rudebwoy]

Play a team sport and see how quickly you get winded.

For me it is soccer.

[Moma]

(12-23-2014 09:26 AM)rudebwoy Wrote:  

Play a team sport and see how quickly you get winded.

For me it is soccer.

The fitter I am, the less buff I look in clothes. So it's a Catch 22 situation.

[WanderingSoul]

Mostly by how jacked I look in the mirror.

When I want to humble myself I spar and see if I'm getting my ass kicked due to fatigue by the third round.

[Beyond Borders]

Thinking about putting a periodic test together with pullups, pushups, situps, and a 2 or 3 mile run. Would be good for goal-setting.

[StrikeBack]

Fitness is rather specific to events. e.g I've taken my very fit BJJ friend to play indoor soccer with me and he got winded badly. I get destroyed by my skinny friend in a long distance run, but if we do 10km while stopping to do pushups, pullups, abs, burpees etc every few hundred metres, he's the one getting spanked.

There's fitness in training and fitness in competition - subtle differences. For some, training is way longer than competition, for others, it's the opposite, even within the same sport.

For lifting training, I measure poundage done at X% intensity (X% of 1RM, 70%+ are recorded) per hour.

Sport is tricky. If youŕe skilled and can anticipate the moves well in advance (depending on the sport of course) you can appear fitter than you really are as you spend less effort in your movements.

For general fitness, if I can do a decent amount in the 5-10 mins of conditioning with random exercises (heavy KB swings, snatches, burpees etc.) I'll be alright.

[Bilboswaggins]

In the gym, one rep maxes (either calculated from your training weights or actually done) compared to your bodyweight. Knowing a persons height, weight and strength in squats, deadlifts, bench presses and chin-ups is all you need to form a good guess of his/her body. These ratios can also show your cardiovascular fitness. Before I started doing these exercises and weighed about 165 pounds, I could run the cooper test (12 minutes of running time) for 3200m. After about 6 months of newbie gains, I weighed 185 and ran 3400m and I had done no cardio in these 6 months.

[BasketBounce]

1) Can I completely shut down my defender in basketball?
2) Can I outlast my opponent in spar? Am I quicker or more coordinated than him?
3) Can I fuck my girl in positions that really turn me on? Can I fuck her in these positions for as long as I want?
4) Can I extend, contract, bend, twist, etc. my muscles in the way that best allows me to manipulate or navigate my environment?
5) Am I confident in my physique?
6) Am I taking prescriptions drugs for shit I really shouldn't need prescription drugs for?

Basically, if I am able to do exactly what I want, then I consider myself fit. If I am incapable of doing what I want...well, that's an area where I can improve. That's the way I see it.

I really like what other people are saying about remaining flexible and having endurance...raw strength is important, but ain't everything fellas!

[Cr33pin]

How long I can hold a girl off the ground while fucking her.... then how far out the door I can throw her when I am finished.

[StrikeBack]

(12-29-2014 11:07 AM)BasketBounce Wrote:  

I really like what other people are saying about remaining flexible and having endurance...raw strength is important, but ain't everything fellas!

Think of it as force production. Absolute raw strength is peak force production, but there's also the matter of how long one can sustain that level of force production.

I'll give an example. I have a friend who's built similar to me, and we've competed in many sports over the years. One of our favourite events is sprinting. If we were to do just one sprint, he likely would beat me by a tiny bit. If we were to do 3 (which usually is the case) I typically would lose the first but beat him in the next 2, increasingly. If we ran even more, I reckon he would get completely destroyed. That's because he can't sustain the top level of force production for very long at all, while, due to the way I train, I can do so for a long time.

If you want to be fit for a certain sport and wonder how you should train, think about that, and it should give you plenty of ideas.

[CaptainCrazy]

There are benchmark workouts in CrossFit and there's a mirror in the bathroom.

[Phoenix]

(12-22-2014 12:37 PM)The_CEO Wrote:  

"The CSS test involves two timetrial swims - a 400m and a 200m. Before attempting these swims perform a thorough warmup and a small build set to get you used to swimming fast. Do the 400m timetrial first, it's less likely to effect the 200m than the other way around. Recover completely between each timetrial with some easy swimming. Perform both timetrials from a push off from the wall, not a dive.
Try and pace the trials as evenly as possible, don't start too fast and slow down. If you're not sure get someone to take your 100m splits - they can be very revealing."

http://www.breakwatersportstraining.com/...speed.html

This sounds like the way to go, cheers.

[ColSpanker]

I gauge mine by how long I can last at a martial arts tournament/ practice. I've been to some meat-grinders that went on for hours. You were constantly fighting 1-on-1 matches with hundreds of other guys or taking a break. But you got points for how many matches you won and how many you fought. So unless you were a God of War, it made sense to take as few breaks as possible. Ten years ago I place 25th out of 250 in one tournament I fought. The same one I competed in last year I ranked 48th. Needless to say, I was not happy.

[JacksonRev]

Since I'm not really trying to get more fit, just maintain, I have three tests to see if I'm getting lazy.

For Cardio, it's the 5000 meter row. Under 19:30 and I'm happy.

For Muscular Endurance it's 100 Burpee Pullups. Under 15:00 is my in shape standard.

And for Strength it's being able to deadlift 500 lbs. When I drop it's time to slow down on cardio and work on power again.

I'm not worried about other people anymore, I just know the power/cardio balance that I like that works best for me in real life.

[Vaun]

Here is a nice little test to do periodically to gauge strength and cardio progress. A lot of fitness coaches use this to assess new clients.

For time as fast as possible, using a stopwatch:

500m row - on a typical Concept 2 row machine in most gyms
40 Air Squats - squat to parallel without a bar
30 Sit Ups
20 Push Ups
10 Pull Ups - strict