Your fitness level isn’t limited to the number you see on your scale or the size of your biceps. Research Suggests There are four main indicators that collectively assess our physical fitness: aerobic health, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
Remember, being skinny is not the same as being healthy. In fact, a study released in 2008 suggests that you can be fat and fit and thin and unhealthy. The researcher behind it found that 1 in 4 people have an underlying condition, such as high blood pressure. And this goes for many people who look great to the naked eye and often stay that way no matter what they eat. This unhealthy group, those who eat donuts for breakfast, avoid vegetables and rarely consider what they put in their mouths, have earned the nickname “skinny fat”; others suggest that this group suffers from “obesity normal weight” (NOM). TO 2015 report suggests that many people with an apparently normal BMI (body mass index) are at significantly increased risk of metabolic problems and death despite their appearance.
So how healthy are you? The following metrics can help you find out.
aerobic health
First, Calculate your resting heart rate. For your heart to be considered healthy, a typical adult’s resting heart rate should be between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Check your pulse by placing your index and middle fingers (not your thumb) on the side of your neck or the inside of your wrist. Set a timer for 15 seconds and count the beats. Multiply the number of beats by four.
Second, test your heart rate while doing aerobic activity. Also known as his target heart rate, the numbers should be different depending on your age. While a 25-year-old’s target heart rate is between 98 and 166, a 55-year-old’s should be between 83 and 140. Harvard Health, a division of Harvard Medical School, suggests taking the step test which involves climbing five flights of stairs. Once you’ve reached the fifth floor, rest or sit for a minute, then check your pulse using the same method described above. Harvard Health suggests comparing your rate to the YMCA’s standard. In this classification table, the pulse of a healthy man aged 36 to 45 years will be 90 or less and a woman in the same age category should have 96 beats or less.
Muscular strength and endurance
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) says, “There are two types of muscular fitness tests: muscular endurance tests, which assess the ability to resist fatigue; and muscular strength tests, which assess the maximum amount of force an individual can produce in a specific number of repetitions.”
You can test your muscular endurance with a push-up and sit-up test. In the push-up test, you will need your chin to touch the ground. Count how many push-ups you can do. If you’re a 35-year-old woman, your goal is to do 19 push-ups without stopping; if you’re a male of the same age, you should be able to do at least 21. While the Mayo Clinic considers the push-up test to be more accurate than a sit-up test, you can also try this test. “Fitness” for a 35-year-old woman means doing 30 sit-ups (or sit-ups), or a man of the same age should be able to do 40 in a minute.
For muscle strength, you can try in a variety of ways. Common methods include a bench press or leg press, arm curl, pull-down, knee extension, and/or knee curl. You will likely need a personal trainer to help you assess your muscle strength.
Flexibility
According to the University of California Davis’ Health Division of Sports Medicine, flexibility is an indicator of an individual’s overall health profile because it tells the story of joint, muscle, and tissue health.
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Joints: A healthy joint, such as the hips and knees, which support much of your weight, becomes lubricated or oiled when there is a good blood supply. If you’re inflexible, your joints may not get the nutrients they need.
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Muscles: Inflexible muscles put more pressure on other muscles. That can lead to muscle fatigue which, in turn, could lead to joint injuries, as the muscles are too tired to do their job. The hamstring muscles, for example, keep the knees stabilized. Weak hamstrings could increase the chance of an ACL tear.
While age can influence flexibility, regular stretching can help slow the natural decline in flexibility that begins in your 30s and 40s. It is also important to note that men tend to lose their flexibility faster than women.
To check how flexible you are, take the sit-and-reach test, which measures flexibility in the back of your legs, hips, and lower back. Take a garden pole and sit with your legs stretched out; Line up the bottom of your feet with the 15-inch line on the yardstick. Reach forward three times for at least one second and record your farthest distance. Those who are over 65 should be able to hit the 17.5 to 15.5-inch mark, depending on gender; a 25-year-old will be considered flexible if their reach extends to the 19.5 to 21.5 mark.
body composition
We have all heard of different body types or shapes — the pear, the apple, the hourglass and the rectangle. The apple-shaped individual, the person who carries more weight above the hips, is thought to have a higher chance of heart disease and diabetes. According to the Mayo Clinic, women with a waist circumference of 35 inches or more and men with a waist circumference of 40 inches or more are at higher risk for these metabolic syndromes.
To check your numbers, simply measure your waist with a tape measure just above your hip bones.
Another way to measure your body composition is to determine your BMI. you can use a BMI calculator to check your score. Simply enter your gender, age, height and weight, and your waist circumference. If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, you are considered to have a healthy BMI.
Remember, it’s not just one thing that makes you healthy. And it might be best to stop judging his book, and everyone else’s, by looking at the cover.
