You may think that assessing your fitness level is as easy as taking a look at your physique in the mirror, but there is much more to it than what meets the eye. The key to developing an effective workout program initially understands your fitness level. Once you assess your strengths and weaknesses, you can plan your comprehensive fitness goals accordingly.
Finding Your True Fitness
Some people lock themselves into a fitness program that doesn’t properly challenge their bodies. For instance, you won’t reach your peak physical fitness by regularly prioritizing bench-presses and bicep curls.
Although any amount of weight lifting is beneficial to your health and physique, there needs to be a variety of workouts in each session. You need to work out the legs as well, not to mention the back, shoulders, and the cardiovascular system. Merely going to the gym doesn’t equate to being in shape.
Aerobic Fitness Test
Aerobic fitness is great in determining what kind of workouts you should integrate into your fitness program. To test your skills, go on a mile-long brisk walk and try to keep the same pace the entire time. Make sure you’re wearing a timer and carry a logbook with you to record your time. Once you hit the one-mile mark, take your pulse by placing your fingers on your carotid artery in your neck. Using a watch, count the number of beats per ten seconds and multiply the number by 6 to get the number of beats per minute. Write in your notebook the distance, time, and number of beats per minute at the end of your walk.
In doing so, you can accurate gauge your current physical status, guaranteeing that you are not setting impossibly high standards. By regularly pushing your body to its limits, you can ensure that you are safely improving your physique without risk of bodily injury or over-exhaustion.
Muscular Strength and Endurance
Another simple way to assess your fitness at home without any equipment is by doing pushups. Since this exercise involves using your own body weight against yourself, it’s a great way to find out how sustainable your total fitness is.
While doing pushups, make sure that your back remains straight and that body is parallel to the floor. Slowly lower yourself until you’re about two to three inches from the ground, then push back up. Start with sets of ten, and see how many sets you can do. In only a few days time, you should notice a slight improvement in your performance.
The Ultimate Workout
For a fun full-body workout where you can also learn a new skill, consider taking fitness classes or participating in a martial arts system. For those who can get bogged down by the repetition and sterility of working out on machines at the gym, martial arts are a refreshing way to enhance your complete fitness while learning invaluable self-defense techniques.
The practice not only works your cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength, it sharpens your mind and refines your reflexes. Martial arts, yoga, and calisthenics are all great practices for people of all ages and are creative ways to bolster your personal fitness.
Instead of growing tired of the gym and losing sight of your fitness goals, push your physical limit by engaging in stimulating exercises and understanding your personal fitness on a month-to-month basis.
