Benchmarks for everyday Life
Test your ability against these benchmarks with some of life’s standard activities. Can you execute the moves? Perform the Move, Post, and TAG US on social media for a chance to win our weekly prizes including Topgolf Gifcards!
Broad Jump
The broad jump is a movement that evaluates how far one is able to jump forward over the ground. Begin by standing with your feet shoulder width apart. Complete the movement by jumping forward and landing in a controlled manner.
This movement is important as it requires increased strength, muscular power, motor control, and balance. These properties are important for athletic performance and higher scores in these areas translate well into speed, jumping ability, and overall athleticism.
This movement provides meaningful insight into one’s ability to both produce/absorb force and tolerate impact.
As a benchmark to work toward, are you able to jump further than your height? Can you perform the movement?
For our adolescent followers, check out how you compare on the following normative chart.
Thomas, E., Petrigna, L., Tabacchi, G., Teixeira, E., Pajaujiene, S., Sturm, D. J., Sahin, F. N., Gómez-López, M., Pausic, J., Paoli, A., Alesi, M., & Bianco, A. (2020). Percentile values of the standing broad jump in children and adolescents aged 6-18 years old. European journal of translational myology, 30(2), 9050. https://doi.org/10.4081/ejtm.2019.9050
Sit Ups
Sit ups are a commonly utilized exercise in both fitness and sports settings. It targets the abdominal muscles and can increase both strength and endurance of the involved muscles.
To perform the movement, begin by lying on your back with knees bent and arms folded across the chest. Keeping your feet flat on the ground, raise your body into the upright, vertical position. Slowly return to the starting position.
Test yourself and see how many repetitions you can perform in 1 minute. How do you compare to the normative values for your age group?
Source: adapted from Golding, et al. (1986). The Y’s way to physical fitness (3rd ed.), pages 113-124.
Deadlifts
The deadlift is a “hinge movement” that targets the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles (often referred to as the posterior chain).
Perform the movement by lifting the weight from the ground, standing fully upright, and returning to the starting position. Do your best to sit back into your hips, maintain an upright posture, and keep the weight close to your body.
The deadlift is an excellent option for athletes, runners, and individuals of all ages and levels of experience. Can you perform the movement?
For more experienced lifters, are you able to perform 10 reps at half your body weight?
Pull Ups
The pull up is an upper body strength activity requiring the individual to pull themselves to the height of the bar from a hanging position, returning to the starting position in a controlled manner.
This is an important exercise as it requires a high degree of shoulder mobility, full body control, and upper body strength. How many pull ups can you do in one effort?
Side Planks
The side plank is an exercise that measures muscular endurance of the abdominals, hips, and shoulder.
Begin by lying on your side. Support yourself on your elbow and raise into the testing position. Try to be in as straight a line as possible. This test provides useful information for runners, athletes, and active adults and their abilities to control their body with running, change of direction, or other side to side movements.
A good benchmark to work toward is 45s. Can you complete the movement?
Body Weight Row
The body weight row is a maneuver that can be completed using a TRX strap, rings, or a barbell rack. The goal is to complete 10 repetitions with your body starting at a 45 degree angle relative to the ground. Can you complete the movement?
The task is made more challenging by orienting your body closer to the ground. The body weight row is a great alternative to pull ups as a means to increase body weight strength and has applications to a wide range of activities.
Single Leg Hop in Place: 10 reps
The single leg hop requires that you begin by balancing on one foot, then continuously hop in place for 10 repetitions without a loss of balance. Successful completion of this maneuver provides meaningful information on overall fitness, movement control, and athleticism. This ability also shows carryover to fitness related tasks including running and plyometric readiness.
For runners, how many hops can you perform in 30s? A good benchmark is to complete 75 repetitions in 30s. This provides meaningful information regarding the overall conditioning of the lower leg and demonstrates a high degree of carryover to running.
Cooper’s 12 minute run/walk test
Cooper’s 12 minute run/walk test is a test of maximal cardiovascular fitness and is a good predictor of long-term health. All you need to complete the test is a watch or phone that is able to track your distance while you walk/run for the 12 minutes. Check the chart below to see how you compare for your age group. You can use your distance to calculate your VO2max which is a measure of how much oxygen your body can consume while exercising. This value can improve over time in response to your training.
The Cooper Method V02 Max Chart by Distance
Example: Mike warms up for 10 minutes and then times himself for 12 minutes, aiming to cover as much distance as possible.
At the end of the test, Mike ends up running 2.2 miles (about nine laps around a standard track).
Since 2.2 miles equals 3600 meters, he can estimate his aerobic capacity by doing a simple calculation:
VO2 Max = 3600 –504.9/44.73 = 69.19 ml/kg/m.
For more info on V02max and further calculation, read here
Single Leg Sit to Stand
The single leg sit to stand test is a measure of balance and leg muscle strength endurance. It can be used to assess preparedness to run, perform jumping activities, and other fitness related activities. Begin by sitting at the edge of a chair. Lifting one leg off the ground, lift yourself to a standing position, then return to the starting positioning without placing the opposite foot down and in a controlled manner. Minimize the use of momentum.
How many repetitions can you perform? Test both sides and see if there is a difference.
Can you perform 10 repetitions on each side?
Dumbbell Pass Test
The dumbbell pass test assesses your shoulder mobility. Begin by holding the end of the dumbbell and reach over your shoulder on the same side. At the same time, reach with the opposite hand up your back from the opposite side. To pass, you must be able to transfer the dumbbell from one hand to the other from each side. Shoulder mobility is important in the context of overhead activities such as tennis, lifting, reaching overhead, and other functional activities.
*Can also be performed with a pen
Prone Plank Test
The prone plank test is a measure of abdominal muscle endurance. It is commonly used in the assessment of those with low back pain and is a good measure of fitness. Can you hold the position for 60 seconds?
6-Minute Walk Test
The 6-Minute Walk Test is a measure of general mobility and is commonly used in neurologic, geriatric, and pediatric populations however it has good implications for the general population as well. To complete the test, you will need a way to measure how far you walk (i.e. smart watch, phone or watch gps, treadmill, or a track) and a timer. The goal of the test is to walk as far as you can in the 6 minutes. Below are normative values for age groups 60+. If these age groups do not apply to you, you may periodically test your fitness and measure your improvement over time. For reference, an increase of 50+ meters (164 ft.) is a significant improvement. This test is important because shorter distances are associated with increased risk of falling, increased morbidity, and decreased overall fitness.
Toe Touch Test
The toe touch test is a quick and easy way to assess the mobility of the low back, hips, hamstrings, and lower leg. Collectively this can be referred to as the “posterior chain.” Begin standing upright with feet together. Keeping the knees straight, reach down toward your toes. If you are unable to complete the task, this may indicate limitations in posterior chain mobility. This is important in the context of fitness and everyday activities like lifting an item from the floor, or reaching down to tie a shoe.
Push-Up Test
The push-up test is a quick and easy way to assess the muscle strength and endurance of the chest and arms. Begin in a push-up position. In a controlled manner, lower your chest to floor level and immediately press back to the starting position. Maintain a consistent tempo without extended pauses between repetitions. The test stops when form breaks down, the rhythm is lost or slows significantly, or you are no longer able to continue due to fatigue or pain. This test is an important measure of general fitness and can be easily performed anywhere. Compare your test results to the table below.
Sitting-Rising Test
The Sitting-Rising Test is a test that was developed to determine a link between musculoskeletal health and mortality. Beginning in a standing position, the goal of the test is to sit fully to the floor and return to standing position using as little support as possible. Examples of support include:
- Placing a hand or forearm on the knee or ground
- Placing a knee or side of the leg on the ground. Try to complete the test maintaining your balance as best as possible. Studies have shown that using less support to perform this maneuver is associated with increased survival, improved health-related quality of life, and increased musculoskeletal fitness.
Tiers:
- Excellent: Use of no hands (with or without a minor loss of balance)
- Good: Use of 1 hand to sit and/or stand
- Needs Improvement: Use of more than 1 support for sitting and/or standing
