You may be successful at your weekly spin class or able to lift super heavy weights, but does that mean you’re in good physical shape?
Meeting basic fitness recommendations for your age is crucial, as being slightly below average can lead to a dramatic increase in heart disease risk.
Now, experts from the University of California, Los Angeles and mega gym Equinox have detailed the four science-backed exercises that best indicate your fitness level.
Your performance on each of the movements, which include push-ups and running a mile, measures how much your muscle mass, mobility, and cardiovascular system have decreased.
The fitness experts at Equinox have calculated a handy chart (below) that tells you exactly where you should be for your age in terms of upper body strength.
Starting at age 30, you begin to lose between three and eight percent of muscle mass per decade, according to endocrinologists at the University of Southern California.
“Exercise is the closest thing we’ve found to a magic pill to combat the effects of aging,” said Linda P. Fried, dean of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
Michael Crandall, certified strength and conditioning specialist at E by Equinox gym, told Wall Street Journal that the four “test” exercises monitor strength, cardiovascular efficiency and mobility.
VO2 max is traditionally calculated by monitoring the amount of oxygen you take in while running for several minutes at top speed, as noted above.
First, to assess your aerobic fitness, identify your VO2 max, which is a measure of the maximum oxygen your body can absorb and use when doing cardio. Measures the efficiency of the body’s cardiovascular system.
Traditionally, you would go to a lab under the supervision of an instructor to determine your VO2 max and run on a treadmill with a mask over your nose or mouth to measure how much gas you inhale and expel.
But physical therapists have developed two versions of this test that you can do at home. one involves running at your maximum speed for twelve minutes and the another involves walking a mile at a fast pace.
For the average 25-year-old American woman, a good score would be equivalent to taking in between 2,544 and 2,775 milliliters of oxygen per minute. A low score would be equivalent to taking between 1773 and 2236 milliliters of oxygen per minute.
For an average man of the same age, a good score would be 3,851 to 4,168 milliliters of oxygen per minute, while a poor score would be 2,990 to 3,262 milliliters of oxygen per minute.
In a lab, this is measured using a mask that can monitor oxygen levels as well as the amount of CO2 you’re expelling. At home, and without a special mask, the mark of an adequate VO2 max is that you can complete the exercises without stopping.
Push-ups are a great way to test upper body strength, as they require multiple muscles to complete the movement.
Second, to measure upper body strength, experts recommend doing push-ups.
Although this may seem like a simple exercise, it engages a wide range of muscles and is a good indicator of how well the muscles can move one’s own body weight, said Equinox’s Crandall.
Placing your hands under your chest, shoulder-width apart, and feet in a plank position, lower yourself to the floor until your arms are bent more than 90 degrees before coming back up. If you can’t do this in the standard position, you can start on your knees.
See how many you can do in a row. Your suitability for the push-up test will depend on your age group and gender.
According to Equinox, a good result for a woman between 31 and 40 years old would be doing 15 push-ups in a row or more, a bad result would be 10 or less.
A good result for a man aged 31 to 40 would be 29 push-ups or more, and a bad result would be 15 or less.
Side planks give you an idea of how stable your core is and how likely you are to maintain a good sense of balance in the future.
Third, to measure your core strength and stability, Crandall recommends a side plank.
This involves placing your feet on top of each other and pressing your body off the ground while balancing on one arm.
If you are able to hold this position for more than 45 seconds, you are definitely in shape, regardless of your age. But if you can’t hold the position for more than 20 seconds, you need to work on your core strength, Crandall said.
Core strength is incredibly important as we age to maintain posture and balance, as well as to avoid back and neck pain, according to Harvard Men’s Health Watch.
Finally, the last test is important to measure your mobility and involves you trying to get up from a sitting position without using your hands.
If you can drop to the ground, rotate your hips to sit down, and then reverse that path to get back up without using your hands, then you pass the test. A “good” score is a passing score, regardless of your age.
New Jersey Chiropractor Suzi Schulman Demonstrated This Test on a tiktok clip (above).
This movement is innate in children, but adults tend to practice it less as they age. according to studies from Herlev‐Gentofte University Hospital in Denmark. This means that, in general, the older people are, the less muscle strength they have for this type of movement.
“A person’s ability to maintain balance remains stable until age 40, but gradually declines thereafter,” according to Kwon-Young Kangphysiotherapist at Wonkwang University of Health Sciences in Korea.
So if you’re able to pull it off, that’s probably a good sign for your longevity, Schulman said.