1. Resting Heart Rate
The best time to take this is when you first wake up in the morning. If you take the recordings over three days and average them, you will get a more accurate result. Place two fingers on either your wrist (radial artery), or neck (carotid artery). Being careful not to press too hard, count the number of beats for a minute. If you own a heart rate monitor, this will obviously give you an accurate reading.
2. Muscular Strength and Endurance
Strength is about the force or tension your muscles can exert against a resistance, and muscle endurance is about exerting that force repeatedly without fatigue. Sit-ups and push-ups are the most commonly used tests and you can easily do them at home.
Push-up Test
Men should use the standard “military style” pushup position with only the hands and the toes touching the floor in the starting position. Women have the additional option of using the “bent knee” position.
Do as many push-ups as possible until exhaustion. Count the total number of pushups performed.
Sit Up Test
Lie flat on the floor with knees bent, hands to the side of your head, raise up till your elbows touch your knees, lower then repeat. Record how many sit-ups you can do without stopping.
3.Leg Strength
Wall-Sit
Imagine you are taking a seat against a wall without sitting down. With your back pressed into the wall, and your legs bent at 90 degrees, see how long you can maintain this position. Make sure that the surface is not slippery, and have a chair by your side to help you straighten back up when you have finished – your thighs may have seized up! Keep your hands off your legs throughout the exercise, and time how long you can hold the position.
4. Explosive Power
Jump
From a squatting position, jump up as high as possible, holding a piece of chalk in one hand. Make a mark on a wall at the top of your jump. Do this three times and measure the highest mark.
5. Aerobic
This describes your heart and lungs’ ability to supply oxygen to the working muscles during sustained exercise.
We improve aerobic fitness by exercising at levels that keep the heart rate elevated for a period of time. Brisk walking, swimming, cycling or jogging will all do this.
The simplest way to test your aerobic capacity is to do some aerobic exercise – like running up a hill or walking up some stairs – and see how it feels (it really can be that simple).
How did you feel? Out of breath, easy or somewhere in between. Describe.
6. Flexibility
Flexibility is about the range of motion you have in your joints. Using and moving your body will keep those joints flexible.
You Will Need
Tape measure and either a small sticky note or sticky tape.
Sit tall against a wall with your legs straight out in front of you, trying to keep your legs as straight as possible. Legs are a couple of inches apart with your knees and toes facing the ceiling. Place your hands on top of each other holding your sticky and reach arms out in front of body, extending your body forward leading with your breastbone first. Place your sticky on the floor between your legs as far as you can reach forward, keeping good form.
Measure from the wall to the sticky and record your result.
Tip: Be careful not to round your upper back as you reach forward, as this will give you a false result.