FitSugar

Home Fitness Test: Step Test

FitSugar — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:00:00 PST

It is good to assess your fitness level from time to time. It helps you stay well rounded in your workout life. Plus, if you test yourself every couple of months you will see how much you have improved. Or if the results are not to your liking, the fitness assessment might just motivate you. Here is a way to test your cardiovascular endurance that I found at Top End Sports. It is simple and fun to do.

Here's how it works:

Step Test
Assesses: Cardiovascular Endurance
Equipment: 12 inch step, stop watch, heart rate monitor (if you have one)

Step Test

Find a bench or step that is as close to 12 inches high as you can find.
Step onto bench with right foot and then the left foot. Step down with right foot and then the left foot.
Repeat starting with the left foot this time.
Keep a steady rhythm for three minutes.
Measure your heart rate for the next minute, by either taking your pulse for 60 seconds. Or if you have a heart rate monitor, note your heart rate after three minutes of stepping and your heart rate after one minute of standing, and average those two figures together.

To see what your numbers mean

Age	18-25	26-35	36-45	46-55
Excellent	below 85	below 88	below 90	below 94
Good	85-98	88-99	90-102	94-104
Above Average	99-108	100-111	102-110	104-115
Average	109-117	112-119	111-118	116-120
Below Average	118-126	120-126	119-128	121-129
Poor	127-138	127-138	129-140	130-135

So, how did you do?

Source

Home Fitness Test: Abdominal Strength

FitSugar — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:00:00 PST

People tend to neglect their abs in the Winter. Maybe it has to do with bikini season being so far off, or the vast number of layers we tend to wear in the cold. Well, here is an abdominal strength test that I suggest you try. Hopefully, it will inspire some joyous abdominal work.

Crunch Test
Assesses: Abdominal Endurance
Duration: 60 seconds

Lie on your back on a soft surface (exercise mat or carpeted floor).
Bend both knees to right angles and flex your feet slightly, lifting your toes off the floor.
Place your hands on your thighs.
Start your stop watch now as you perform basic crunches by lifting your head and shoulders up and off the floor, so the bottom tip of the shoulder blade is just off the floor. Your hands will slide up your thighs to your knees. Lower head back to the floor.
Repeat as many times as possible in one minute!

To see what your results mean just

12 – 22 = average
23 – 30 = good
30 – 36 = very good
37 or more = excellent

Well, how did you do? Let me know in the comments section below.
Interested in more at home fitness tests? Then check out these assessments you can do in the comfort and privacy of your own home.

Source

Home Fitness Test: Quad Strength and Endurance

FitSugar — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:30:00 PST

Ski season is rapidly approaching and with it means sore quads. That is if you don't do any preseason conditioning. I would start with the simple assessment of the your quad endurance, which is also a great exercise to add into your routine.
Wall Sit Test
Assesses: Quad strength and endurance

Place your back against the wall, and walk your feet out and away from the wall about 3 ft.
Bend your knees allowing your back to slide down the wall.
Bend both your hips and knees to 90 degrees and adjust your feet as needed. Imagine you are sitting in an invisible chair.
Start your stop watch now and see how long you can hold the position. Don't forget to breathe!

To see what your results mean

76 seconds or more = very good
58-75 seconds = average
57-30 seconds = below average
30 seconds or less = poor

Interested in more at home fitness tests? Then check out these assessments you can do in the comfort and privacy of you own home.

Source

At Home Fitness Test: Core Strength

FitSugar — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:00:00 PST

It is good to assess your fitness level from time to time. It helps you stay well rounded in your workout life. One element that is important no matter if you are a runner, snowboarder, or into lifting weights, is core strength. You need to have a strong and stable torso regardless of your favorite form of exercise.

To test your core strength is simple, and you can do it home; all you need is a stopwatch.

Core Stability Test

Start by lying on your stomach on the floor and place your elbows directly underneath your shoulders with your forearms on the floor making parallel lines.
Curl your toes under and press up into an elbow plank and start timing yourself.
Hold the plank for as long as you can.
Remember to breathe!

To see what your results mean just

Results

Strong: Holding the position for 60 seconds
Average: Holding position for 30 - 60 seconds
Needs Improvement: Holding position for less than 30 seconds means you need to strengthen your core

To strengthen your core you should add in some elbow planks to your routine as well as some side elbow planks.

Home Fitness Test: Resting Heart Rate

FitSugar — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:35:00 PDT

Sometimes it is a good idea to assess your fitness level. You don't need to spend a lot of dough and have a trainer put you through the wringer. There are some great tests you can do in the comfort of your own home. The test explained below you can do in the comfort of your own bed!

Resting Heart Rate Test
Assess: Level of Aerobic Fitness

The number of times your heart beats per minute, when you are at rest, indicates the strength and efficiency of your cardiovascular system. A strong heart is able to pump more blood with every beat, so you want a low resting heart heart (RHR). A lower RHR tends to correspond with a higher aerobic fitness level. Let's take seven time winner of the Tour de France Lance Armstrong as an example. Rumor has it that at the peak of his career Lance's RHR was only 32 beats per minute.

To see how to do the test just

Take your pulse first thing in the morning, by placing two fingers on your wrist, place your index and third fingers on your neck to the side of your windpipe.
Count the number of beats you feel in 60 seconds (or the number you feel for 15 seconds then multiply that number by four). When counting, do count the first beat as zero.
The number of beats you count in 60 seconds is your RHR.

What the numbers mean:

60 or less = Good
61-80 = Average
81-100 = High, but acceptable
101 or more = Abnormally high and not good!

The great thing about this test is that as your RHR lowers you know you are getting more fit!

Source

What Your Get Fit For 2010 Fitness Test Results Mean

FitSugar — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 16:31:47 PST

Resting Heart Rate:
Why: The number of times your heart beats per minute, when you are at rest, indicates the strength and efficiency of your cardiovascular system. A strong heart is able to pump more blood with every beat, so you want a low resting heart rate (RHR). A lower RHR tends to correspond with a higher aerobic fitness level.

Results:

60 or less = Good
61-80 = Average
81-100 = High, but acceptable
101 or more = Abnormally high and not good!

The great thing about this test is that as your RHR lowers you know you are getting more fit!

Core Strength
Why: Core strength is not only a fitness must but necessary for day-to-day living. You need to have a strong and stable torso for lifting weights and lifting boxes or babies, and a strong core will improve your running, biking, and dancing, too.

Results:

60 seconds or longer = Strong
30 - 60 seconds = Average
30 seconds or less = Needs Improvement

Quad Strength and Endurance
Why: Strong legs are an essential part of a fit body. They help you run, walk, and lift. Muscle mass is part of a healthy body, and the quads are a largest muscle group of the legs. Lean-muscle mass helps keep the metabolism running.

Results:

76 seconds or more = Very good
58-75 seconds = Average
57-30 seconds = Below average
30 seconds or less = Poor

Stay tuned for workouts and tips to gain strength and improve your cardio endurance over the weeks to come.

Our (Yummy, Guilt-Free) Lunch With Jillian Michaels

Fitness Magazine — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:16:25 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Fitness Magazine here on FitSugar!

Ever wish you had a personal chef to deliver diet-friendly meals right to your home? Us, too! That’s why we had to catch up with Jillian Michaels at her recent event at the W Residences in Hollywood to get the skinny on her new partnership with Freshology, a food delivery program that brings gourmet, calorie-controlled meals straight to your door.

"I've been wanting to get involved with something like this for a long time, but either the food sucked or it was packed with unhealthy preservatives," says Michaels. "It's not just calories - the quality of the food matters when it comes to health and weight loss, which is why I really clicked with the Freshology's commitment to fresh, clean food."

Teaming up with Freshology’s five-star chef, Michaels used her nutrition principles to create a total weight-loss plan that delivers healthy, wholesome, and delicious food with no preservatives, no hormones, no artificial sweeteners, and no trans fats. On the program, you’ll receive a twice-weekly delivery stocked with daily meals totaling 1,400 to 1,800 calories: breakfast (240 to 475 calories), lunch (230 to 470 calories), dinner (303 to 536 calories), and a dessert. The 28-day rotation ensures you’ll never experience taste bud boredom. And all the food is precooked, chilled, and ready to go, so at the very most, all you have to do is zap it in the microwave. For added "thinspiration," you’ll also get Michaels’s fitness DVDs, texts to keep you motivated, and a copy of her book, Master Your Metabolism.

Keep reading to see if Freshology passed our taste test.

Swimmer Dara Torres on the Quest For Her Sixth Olympic Games

espnW — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:12:32 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Luke Cyphers

Dara Torres once wrote a book called Age Is Just a Number. Nowadays, though, the feel-good story of the 2008 Olympics admits to, well, feeling her age. Torres won two silver medals as a 41-year-old mother and swimmer in Beijing, but she harbors no illusions about repeating the feat four years later. "You have to be realistic," Torres said. "I am 45 years old. I'm that much closer to being 50, and my body just can't recover the way it used to."

Her goal was gold in 2008. In 2012? "I don't feel like I have anything else to prove going into these Olympic Games," said the 12-time medalist. "It's not about medals. I have enough."

So why does she put herself through grueling training five days a week in the hopes of making her sixth - and she swears last - U.S. Olympic team? Because, at her best, she's still one of the fastest sprinters in the world. She placed second in the 50-meter freestyle (25.24 seconds) at the winter nationals. Last month, she swam a solid 25.36 seconds in the prelims of the Indianapolis Grand Prix, but faded to 25.47 in the final to finish sixth. She'll need to place within the top two at the Olympic trials in Omaha in June to make it to London.

Kim Rhode is not your typical Olympian

Dara Torres says it is harder for her body to recover compared to when she competed in the 2008 Olympics. "If I had to just swim the race once, I don't think it would even be an issue making the team," she said. "But I have to swim it three times, and having my body recover for those three races is my issue."

Torres embraces the actuarial challenge of capping an Olympic career 28 years after it began in 1984, even as her world has changed and her body has creaked. Her longtime coach, Michael Lohberg, died of a rare blood disorder in 2011. One of Lohberg's assistants, Bruno Darzi, now coaches her. Her daughter Tessa is now 6. And her left knee required surgery and more than a year to rehab. Through it all, "I still have a passion for the sport of swimming," she said.

But there's also a sense of obligation to the public following she has built through her success and frequent television appearances. (The former telecommunications major and frequent morning-show guest announced her comeback on "Live with Regis & Kelly.") "I have so many people come up to me and say I'm inspiring them to do things that they thought they couldn't do because they were too old, or that they put off because they couldn't find a balance in their life to do it," Torres said.

Keep reading for more on Dara Torres' Olympic past and present.

3 Tips For Germ-Free Travel

Fitness Magazine — Tue, 08 May 2012 04:17:50 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Fitness Magazine here on FitSugar!

Whether you're going by boat, plane, train, or automobile, travel bugs are bound to greet you. Here, some cringe-worthy stats on germs and traveling - and tips on how you can take a trip unscathed.

Stay Hydrated

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the air inside planes has anywhere from 10 to 20 percent humidity, which can dry out mucous membranes and make people more susceptible to germs. Staying hydrated throughout the trip can prevent nasal passages from being irritated, so load up on water and skip the carbonated beverages and booze. "Alcoholic and caffeinated drinks should be followed with water or fruit juice to rehydrate because they are diuretics and can cause water loss," advise Ray Fillmore Garman, MD, MPH, and Susan Spengler, MD, both associate professors with the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Kentucky. Sipping on water assists with immune function - and in some cases even helps with jet lag. For longer, international trips pack electrolyte-friendly snacks like GU Energy Chomps, a banana, nuts, or a small bag of fortified cereal to keep drowsiness at bay.

Keep reading for two more healthy travel tips after the break.

A Cancer Survivor's Goal: 50 Triathlons by Her 50th Birthday

espnW — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:26:06 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from espnW here on FitSugar!

By Julia Savacool

It's a good thing Jenn Sommermann discovered triathlons when she did. "I was turning 40 years old, and my friend and I were looking for a way to commemorate the occasion," Sommermann said. "We decided to train for a triathlon." Because Sommermann was on the East Coast and her friend was on the West, the two trained together virtually, exchanging workout notes and messages of encouragement. Several months later, they competed in the Danskin Women's Tri in Seattle.

"That was it, I was in love with triathlons," Sommermann said. Little did she know, two years later the fitness she gained through the sport would help her win a battle against ovarian cancer.

It was December 2006 when Sommermann received her diagnosis. She'd been feeling out of sorts for months, but had been reluctant to see her doctor.

The symptoms for ovarian cancer are subtle: Bloating, weight gain, fatigue and indigestion are all indicators for the disease, but they are also common symptoms for many women during their monthly cycle. The main difference with ovarian cancer, explained Sommermann, is the symptoms don't go away.

It was by chance she discovered the cancer - she was pressing on her stomach one night and came across a hard lump. "I called my husband over, and he felt it, too," she said. "I knew this wasn't good." She went to see her physician immediately, and an ultrasound revealed a tumor about the size of an eggplant. "I had Stage 3 ovarian cancer," said Sommermann. "I was in shock. The disease is 94 percent curable if you catch it by Stage 2. But after that, the numbers are not in your favor."

Surfing gets Anastasia Ashley through tough times

Read more about Jen's inspiring story after the break.