I love a challenge.
If you didn’t know, I’m a bit of a competitive person. I like to play games to win and hate losing. I like to pit myself against other people and push myself to do better than they did. It’s something that in the last few years has become more apparent to me than ever.
This week Kepa and Annie both did some fitness testing on their own and I decided to join them. Seeing as how this is my last full week here in Vermont I wanted to see how my fitness level has progressed since I’ve been here, and I wanted to challenge myself to do something. I wish I had concrete numbers to compare these results to, but at the very least I will have them as a new starting point.
Basically what they did for their testing was a beep test, pushups in a minute, crunches in a minute, wall squat, and a normal plank. I went into it with no other goal than to at least beat Kepa in some of the things.
MY FITNESS TESTING RESULTS
PUSHUPS (in one minute) – 22. I can’t do more than one regular pushup, so I did the girly kind. And even then I could only do 22 pushups in a minute.
CRUNCHES (in one minute) – 44. I wonder if this would have been better or worse if I had done it at the beginning of the day. As it was, I squeaked out 44 crunches after doing two previous ab workouts that day.
WALL SQUAT – 1:05 The wall squat was a 90 degree wall squat, held for as long as you can do it. I find these hard because it’s not timed. I could give up whenever I want, or keep holding in pain. It’s weird to me and I should have kept going, could have kept going, but I didn’t.
PLANK – 40 seconds This was the last thing I did. Again, I wonder if I could have done better (pretty sure I could have), but still don’t feel like trying again today. I’m taking my first results as my first results. But next time I won’t do a ton of ab work and other exercise before I do these.
BEEP TEST - Yeah, I didn’t do this one. With my knees being extra sucktastic this week I figured it isn’t worth it. I will add this test in next time I do the testing. For me it’s enough that I ran half a mile this week.
Overall I’m pretty happy with those results. I know that several months ago they would not have been that good. And I beat Kepa in all of them except the beep test, which I didn’t do and I know would have done worse.. Considering he is more of a runner than I am, I’ll let that slide.
I’m loving that I see progress in all areas of my life, fitness level included. This week I will try my best to stay healthy (I’ve already had way more cookies than I should have) and have a good final assessment on Friday.
Hope you all have a wonderful, happy, healthy Thanksgiving!!
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a home fitness test is a great idea. maybe ill do one now. thanks for the idea ;)
Jotting these assessments down and measuring your progress over time is a great way to figure out goals and such. Maybe I should listen to my own advice :D.
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Congrats Mary! You HAVE come a long way & this test shows your progress!!! I am with Tony, do it periodically to see how you improve with time & no doubt you will!!!!
Have a very good holiday!!!!
It’s great when you can see the practical benefits of the fitness journey. Being more fit and healthy will pay off in all walks of life. Keep up the great work, Mary, and here’s hoping you have a terrific T’giving holiday.
Jack Sh*t´s last blog ..The Real First Thanksgiving
Hey Mary! Great work!! I like the tests you chose to do! I may join you in this test since I have been seriously hating the scale these days – it just doesnt show enough real progress ;-) !
I may even be brave enough to tell you how little the # of push ups I can do!!
keep rocking!!
<3 jen
jen (@bwJen)´s last blog ..Happy #TweetsGiving 2009
What is a BEEP test?
jen (@bwJen)´s last blog ..Happy #TweetsGiving 2009
Check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-stage_fitness_test
i was going to ask the same thing jen! hmm i can see why you didnt do that test mary.. reading the explaination it sounds super complicated and i got very confused. lol. but maybe that’s just me…
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LOL, yeah besides the knee issue it just sounded really complicated and like too much work to set up. So partly I didn’t do it out of laziness and confusion. Oops. ;)
I was going to ask the same thing – thanks for posting the link. That sounds pretty hard, and complicated too.
South Beach Steve´s last blog ..Three in a Row?
Thanks for stopping by and commenting on my site! I love doing fitness tests and then re-visiting those down the road. Such a great tool to see if you are improving, even if you aren’t seeing the numbers you want on the scale.
The scale is STUCK for me right now…but I think back to a year ago when I would not have been able to run a mile, now I pump out 5…I feel better!
Happy Turkey Day!
Courtney
Adventures in Tri-ing
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thanks for the link!! I don’t think I will be doing the beep test!! i cant see my knees liking all that sprinting!
jen (@bwJen)´s last blog ..Happy #TweetsGiving 2009
omg planks are the worst!! I suck at them….well worse at pushups I guess…I am still striving to figure those out!
Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!
Craig´s last blog ..Weekend Recap…a bump in the road!
I’m pretty sure you’ve got me beat in the wall squat, but I’m way ahead in planks. :)
I have to stay away from competing with other people as I’m too hard on myself when I fall short. Now I compete against my last workout/test. I win no matter what. LOL
Happy Thanksgiving! Hope to see you soon!
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@Tony & Jody
I plan on doing them every month at the end of the month to see if I improve or at least keep up my fitness level. :)
@Jen
Yeah my knees and sprinting don’t mix. I’m going to give them another month and then add that test into the mix.
@Craig
Planks are rough! I’m still not very good at them.
@Cammy
I probably do, since I could have gone longer even. Planks? Eh, I need to do it next time fresh without sore abs. ;)
I don’t like to compare myself with others, but I do like to compete. Somehow my brain works in a way that allows me to push to be better and try to beat other people without beating myself up if I lose. I don’t like it, but it just motivates me to try harder.
Yay! Great job! I can’t believe your time there is almost over. Gosh it feels like you just got there!
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What a great idea to test yourself and see where you are. I hope you have a great final week in Vermont! Any snow yet?
Diane Fit to the Finish´s last blog ..Do You Even Remember The Food?
Nope, no snow. It’s sooo depressing!! I’m still crossing my fingers for snow this weekend so I can go snowboarding before I leave!!
I had a comprehensive fitness test done like this not too long ago! If you’re curious (not trying ot shamelessly pitch my blog, just thought it would be a fun reference for you), here it is:
http://www.thinspiredblog.com/2009/08/how-fit-am-i/
I know how intense that probably was, and I agree that I kept thinking I could have done A LOT better on each individual test if they weren’t all done back to back!
Lara (Thinspired)´s last blog ..Grateful List
So proud of you, Mary! :) You totally kicked my ass! I hope you’re having a good Thanksgiving. I miss you.
Great job!
I think a fitness test is a great way to assess things. I have no idea how I would do on any of them… I really should just do them to find out!
Have a great Thanksgiving!
What a fantastic idea! and look at you go!
I didn’t know what a beep test was either, so thanks for the link.
and I “aawwwwed” at kepa’s comment above.
Josie´s last blog ..My Thanksgiving