Fitness testing is a prerequisite for professional athletes who need to maintain a certain level of physical fitness in order to excel in their profession. But even individuals who merely exercise for health, relaxation or weight maintenance can take benefit from testing their fitness levels at home.
Physical fitness can be broken down to five aspects, namely:
1. Aerobic Capacity (Cardio-vascular/respiratory capacity). Normally measured in terms of either your actual lung capacity or VO2 Max (the highest rate of oxygen consumption attainable during maximal or exhaustive exercise), aerobic capacity refers to the amount of oxygen your body can use up in one minute. This is one of the most common ways of measuring your fitness level. We stock a range of lung capacity meters that may be used for this purpose.
2. Body Composition (ratio of body fat to lean body mass). The BMI or Body Mass Index is one of the most popular measures of overall health and fitness in human beings and is used by the World Health Organisation to measure both malnutrition and obesity. This may be measured using fitness testing equipment such as the anatomical tape measure, height meter, skin-fold calliper, as well as the good old electronic scale.
3. Muscle strength. Muscle strength is defined as ‘the ability of the muscle to exert force during an activity, typically in a one-time burst of energy/effort’. A dynamometer offers a simple and effective way of measuring muscle strength.
4. Muscle endurance. There are three basic kinds of muscle endurance: continuous tension, repetitive dynamic contraction and prolonged intense contractions coupled with short rest periods. Muscle endurance is normally assessed by doing different exercises in a predetermined period of time
5. Muscle flexibility. Muscle flexibility is essential for strength- and fitness training and is one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of a fitness regime. Flexibility is most easily measured using a ‘sit and reach’ box that can measure leg-, hip- and trunk flexibility simultaneously.
Equipment such as these mentioned above makes it easy to perform a home fitness test that will keep you on track with your training schedule. Other useful fitness testing equipment that we stock includes blood pressure monitors and personal heart rate monitors that can be used on the run.