“Am I in shape?” It seems like a SIMPLE question to answer at first, but it’s a lot easier to answer when you use fitness charts and graphs and tests!!!
But first, let me give you a little scenario…
You go to the repair shop to get a TUNE-UP on your car. They run a bunch of tests/diagnostics, right?
Or when you go to the doctor feeling tired all the time. They do TESTS to diagnose you.
So having a factual number or range of numbers really helps you figure out, “is this normal”?
I was just looking up fitness charts and graphs online…
Like, how much weight should a woman be able to bench-press at my weight/age to be considered a “BEGINNER,” “INTERMEDIATE” or “MASTER” lifter…
And I REALIZED, we are always wanting NUMBERS to measure our ability and progress, especially when it comes to fitness.
We’re naturally COMPETITIVE too, right?? 😉
So, to get a sense of how athletic and fit we are, we might ask our running friends for their mile time, or our weight-lifting friends how much they lift, etc. NUMBERS!
And people ask ME things like, “What’s a good mile time?” or “How longshould I be able to do HIIT?” People want the NUMBERS!
(By the way, my answer to that one is, 20 minutes with Transform:20! I wrote an article about it!!!)
And so I thought it would be helpful to provide y’all with:
3 TESTS that will determine if you’re REALLLLY in shape!
1. Test yourself with the fitness CHARTS and GRAPHS, on strengthlevel.com. This website lets you put in your gender, weight, and age. Then, it has over 50 different strength exercises you can click on, and it will tell you how many reps you should be able to do or how much weight you should be able to lift to be considered “good”!!
For example, if you’re a 140 pound woman, and you can squat with 70 lbs for 3 reps, then you’re stronger than 25% of women who also classify themselves as lifters.
2. Test your resting heart rate! Most people’s resting heart rate should be between 50 – 90 beats per minute. 50 is difficult to achieve, and 90 is borderline bad. Aim for the 70s or ideally the 60s!!
3. Find our your body fat percentage! This is not the same thing as body mass index, or BMI. In a BMI test, you just put in your weight and height and the test tells you whether you are overweight. The MAJOR, MAJOR problem with those tests is, muscle weighs more than fat!
That means, when a muscular person puts their weight and height in the BMI calculator, it might accidentally tell them they’re overweight when they aren’t.
So body fat percentage tests are a better indicator of health. You can use a calculator like this one to figure it out.
21% – 24% body fat is considered good for women, and 14% – 17% is good for men. (We LADIES need more in case we have BABIES!!! 😉 )
As you can see, fitness charts and graphs are a super useful tool for you if you’re wondering, “Am I in shape?”
I mean, you can’t argue with numbers. And improving these numbers is a really concrete, defined GOAL, which I know a lot of people like.
Another easy goal is working out just 20 minutes a day (with some rest days too). If you’re interested in learning more about the workout I’m currently doing, Transform:20, click here to read my article about the program, and join in if you’re feelin’ motivated!!
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