Follow the Workout: Fitness Testing

October 8, 2010

Fitness Testing, Follow the Workout, Personal, Personal Training, Rock City Fitness, Training Phases

Now that I have detailed the Rock City Fitness training program with my training approach blog series, I am ready to put my money where my mouth is!  I am going to put my plan into action… on myself!  I am going to be my own personal trainer and I will be writing about it on this blog.  In addition to this blog I will have an accompanying video diary.  I will post videos on YouTube with links from this blog.  So, you can read about what I am doing and see it as well.  I will also write about what my workout goals are,  how I feel physically and mentally, my successes and failures, my schedule, what I accomplished and much more!  I am looking forward to going on this journey with you.

Fitness Testing

Fitness testing is the first step when embarking on a fitness program.  Benchmarks need to be set so that progress can be tracked.  Also, strengths and weaknesses are revealed so that the program can be tailored accordingly.
 

I conducted my fitness testing  about three weeks ago on Thursday September 16th.  Here are my results!

Results

Body Weight

200 lbs.

Body Fat Percentage

9.42%

Lean weight: 181.2 lbs.

Body fat weight: 18.8 lbs.

Push Ups (max consecutive)

53 reps

Sit Ups (completed in 1 minute)

52 reps

Sit and Reach Test (flexibility test)

22 inches

Bench Press (max estimated 1 RM)

225 lbs. x 8 reps = 279 lbs.

Shark Skill Test (agility test)

24.57 seconds

12 Minute Run Test (max distance in 12 minutes)

1.34 miles

Estimated VO2: 36.9

Observations and Goals

Overall I did pretty good.  Especially considering I haven’t had the most consistent exercise, eating and sleep patterns over the last few months.  Coincidently, I had a full physical at my doctor’s office recently and all my health measures and blood work came back great.  So, I can’t complain about where I’m at right now. 

However, I was disturbed by my 12 minute run test.  My result, 1.34 miles, ranks in the 19th percentile compared to other men in my age group.  Yikes!  This really doesn’t suprise me though.  I do not do nearly enough cardiovascular type exercise.  I strength train on a regular basis and I have a very active job, but I don’t buckle down and hit the treadmill or eliptical like I should.  And I’m not talking about training for a marathon.  I simply need to do it so my cardiovascular fitness is comparable to all of my other measurements.  As it stands now, my overal fitness is not balanced.  So, my goal will be to get in at least the 75th percentile in the 12 minute run.  This means I will have to run at least 1.6 miles in 12 minutes.

My other goals include reducing my body fat and increasing my strength.  I would like to hit 6% body fat or less.  I would like to do at least 75 push ups and bench press at least 300 lbs.  In addition to this, I need to stay healthy!  I have recurring lumbar pain due to herniated L-4 and L-5 disks.  Fortunately, I know how to keep my core strong and modify my workouts to minimize low back stress.  I also have access to great chiropractic care.

So there you are.  Let’s get going on this workout and see how I do!